Asian Institute of Transport Development, New Delhi
Keeping South Asia moving since 1989.
An independent, not-for-profit institute for transport research, road safety training and regional cooperation, with special consultative status at the United Nations.
- 3,600+
- road professionals trained in road safety engineering and audit
- 800+
- senior rail professionals from 14 countries, trained with the Ministry of Railways
- 61,000 km
- of roads and road designs assessed by IndiaRAP, hosted at AITD
- 37 years
- of non-partisan research since the institute was founded in 1989
What we do
Four kinds of work, one aim: transport across the region that is balanced, efficient, equitable and sustainable.
- Research and policyStudies, journals and monographs on transport policy, economics and logistics.
- Road safetyEngineering and audit training, auditor accreditation and IndiaRAP star ratings.
- TrainingCourses for railway, road and port officials, and year-round internships.
- Regional cooperationSecretariat of the Asian Railway Association; support to SAARC, BIMSTEC and ASEAN.
Safer roads, rated star by star
The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways entrusted AITD with its World Bank-funded road safety training. The institute wrote the curricula, trained engineers through IITs, NITs and regional centres, and designed India's first road safety auditor accreditation.
Since 2017 AITD has hosted IndiaRAP, which star-rates roads on the iRAP one-to-five scale. By September 2026 it had assessed more than 61,000 km of roads and road designs and influenced an estimated US$6.3 billion of road investment. The hosting agreement was renewed in December 2025.
- Firstroad safety auditor accreditation system in India
- US$6.3bnof road investment influenced by IndiaRAP
Thirty-seven years in thirty seconds
From a recommendation of the National Transport Policy Committee to a regional conversation on skills.
- Founded in New Delhi on the advice of the National Transport Policy Committee
- Special consultative status with the UN Economic and Social Council
- Secretariat of the new Asian Railway Association
- IndiaRAP launched and hosted on the AITD campus
- IIPA Award for Excellence in Public Services
- 3,600 road professionals trained in road safety engineering and audit
- Agreement with iRAP renewed to make IndiaRAP part of the institute's mandate
- Virtual Industry Connect with the Visakha Institute of Port Management
"I am impressed by the high level of objectivity of the Institute, its regional outreach and its capability to draw on a wide range of academic and professional resources."
Kim Hak-Su, Executive Secretary, UNESCAP
Latest from the institute
Statements, agreements and results, each with its source.
Research and publications
Thirteen studies, twenty-nine journal issues and eleven monographs, all in full text.
Environmental and Social Sustainability of Transport: Rail and Road Compared
Road carries an estimated 76 per cent of goods traffic and 79 per cent of passenger traffic in India while rail's share has fallen steeply. The study models energy use, emissions, costs and the external costs of health damage and accidents across both modes.
Read the study (PDF)Across the network
The ports, corridors, rivers and borders the institute's research and training are about.
SeaDakshin Bharat Gateway Terminal, Tuticorin 
RailA heavy coal train hauled by WAG-7 and WAG-9 locomotives 
RiverMV Rabindranath Tagore at Gaighat, Patna, on National Waterway 1 
TranshipmentVizhinjam International Seaport, Kerala 
BordersJessore Road at Petrapole, the India–Bangladesh land port 
PortsVisakhapatnam Port, home of VIPM 
ContainersJawaharlal Nehru Port, Navi Mumbai
Training programmes
Courses for government officials, engineers and the next generation of transport professionals.
Road safety engineering and audit
MoRTH-sponsored courses delivered through IITs, NITs and regional centres. Candidates are nominated by the ministry and sit an accreditation assessment on completion.
Rail sector courses for BIMSTEC countries
Twenty-one courses from 2005 to 2017 with the Ministry of Railways, from multimodal transport and dry ports to freight operations.
Internship programme
Open throughout the year to graduate students and research scholars in India and abroad. Interns choose their own transport-sector topic.
VIPM and AITD Virtual Industry Connect
AITD and the Visakha Institute of Port Management brought industry voices together on one question: which skills ports, logistics and maritime transport need as AI takes on more of the work.
In their words
Leaders who have worked with the institute.
"The Asian Institute of Transport Development is a commendable initiative. It will be able to sustain itself as a catalyst for regional cooperation, a mechanism for exchange of ideas and experience, and a lever for bringing peoples of various countries together."K. R. NarayananPresident of India
"Regional cooperation among the Asian countries is the most essential strategy. I warmly welcome the creation of the AITD as a body that paves the way towards strategic implementation of regional cooperation."Akbar TorkanMinister of Roads and Transportation, Iran
Visit Asia Bhawan, Dwarka
The campus faces a district park in Sector 9, Dwarka, close to the international airport. It houses teaching blocks, the library, a conference room, an auditorium and an IT centre.
2,500books and reports in the library
100seats in the auditorium
60seats in the conference room
Who we work with
Memoranda of understanding with each of the following are published in full.
- UNESCAP
- Ministry of Railways
- iRAP
- UIC
- IRU
- NHAI
- RITES
- CONCOR
- CRIS
- NCAER