Freight can speed up economic growth

It is interesting to note that of the around 23,000 trains running daily on the 65,000-km network of Indian Railways, two-thirds carry passengers, contributing to just a third of the revenue while the remaining one-third are freight trains that rake in two-thirds of the earnings.Freight trains are accorded priority all over the world and our railway minister Suresh Prabhu now intends to pull out all the stops in order to give freight a better chance to grow and win back business from the road sector. As far as energy consumption is concerned, freight trains are five times more efficient than trucks and are also less polluting. It is a far better option for the nation to meet its transport needs i.e. if it can be an attractive option for shippers, who are forever on the look out for cost-effective alternatives.

Having set the ball rolling for capacity augmentation with no less than 77 projects for doubling, tripling and quadrupling of very high density corridors — that were carrying over 150 per cent of their capacity — Mr Prabhu has now set his sights on attracting freight business.

Amongst them are facilitating connectivity to new ports through public-private partnership, setting up of logistic parks to modernise logistics etc. Also on the cards is a pricing mechanism to garner additional revenue from empty flow, with a pilot project for automatic rebate to customers offering traffic through computerised Freight Operations Information System (FOIS) being introduced to gauge customer response. New parcel vans with better tare (weight of an empty van) to pay load ratios have been developed.

This would increase throughout by 25.6 per cent over the existing Integral Coach Factory-type parcel van. The volumetric capacity of 144 cubic metre (CuM) of the existing design has been hiked to 180 CuM, and could prove to be a game changer. CASNUB Bogies (used in freight wagons), which is a standard fitment on BOX wagons, will have a speed potential of 100 kmph. While maxim-ising volumetric capac-ity, the parcel van will have a higher axle load of 22.9 tonne as against the present 16 tonne.

Arrangements for strapping cargo would ensure they don’t shift during the run, while the present single sliding door has been replaced by two, which are extra wide and are in two parts. The 2.4x2.1 (width x height) would enable even forklifts to enter, enabling faster loading and unloading.

A prototype under manufacture at Texmaco would soon be subjected to speed tests before entering service in April 2016. A refrigerated variant would be on cards.

Multimodal Logistics Parks (freight villages) have been planned to convert unused lands along railways’ 65,000 km network and upgrade goods sheds. A newly created Transport Logistics Corporation of India Ltd. (TRANSLOC) is proposed which will develop and manage these to handle non-bulk as well as bulk cargo. By providing support to non-conventional freight such as containers, automobiles, RO-RO (Roll-On and Roll-Off) and other specialised cargo, including setting up a cold chain for perishables, the railways expects to win back high-value business from the road sector. The PPP model has been a runaway success in connecting ports like Mundra, Pipavav, Dhamra, etc. and more such projects are on anvil. The JSW group is set to build a 34-km-long rail line at a cost of Rs 7,700 crore in the next three years or so to connect Jaigarh Port on West coast to a new station at Digni, about 310 km south of Mumbai.

As announced by Mr Prabhu in his last budget, a network of Private Freight Terminals (PFT) will be set up as per the PPP model. Response from private parties has been good so far with 70 proposals received, out of which 26 have been notified and commissioned. Further, 42 proposals approved in principal are in various stages of finalisation. In order to revive the Own Your Wagon scheme — which focused on assured supply of a guaranteed number of rakes every month to a customer based on the number of rakes procured by him with freight concessions launched in 2005 — an empowered group consisting has been set up to resolve all issues pertaining to individual Liberalised Wagon Investment Scheme (LWIS) proposals.

Railway board mandarins are burning a lot of midnight oil to develop another ambitious Special Freight train Operator (SFTO) scheme so that most of the issues pertaining to various stakeholders are addressed. For it should not remain a mere acronym, but contribute effectively to Mr Prabhu’s vision of once again making railways the nation’s engine of economic growth.

The writer is a former member of the Railway Board