An interactive
seminar with major industries and stakeholders of Indian Railways freight
business was organized here today i.e. on 23rd June, 2016. The theme
of the seminar was “LOOKING BEYOND COAL-GROWTH STRATEGIES FOR RAILWAYS IN A
CHANGING ENVIRONMENT”. Keeping in view the importance of freight business, the
seminar was specially addressed by Shri Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu, Minister of Railways
and Shri Manoj Sinha, Minister of state for Railways. The seminar was chaired
by Shri Mohd. Jamshed, Member Traffic, Railway Board. This has been an
unprecedented initiative of Ministry of Railways as it seeks increase in its
freight business.
Addressing the
interactive session, Minister of Railway Shri Suresh Prabhu said that Indian Railways
is making all out efforts to boost its freight traffic. The Minister pointed
out that directions have been given to the traffic department of Railways to
intensely interact with the freight business representatives and understand
their problems and try to address them. Shri Suresh Prabhu said that Railway
officers both at zonal level and divisional level are reaching out to customers
and chasing them with a view to increase Railway’s freight business. He said
that Railways is focusing on non-coal traffic also in a big way and this
seminar is discussing strategies for the same. He said that integrated
accounting reforms are now underway in Indian Railway system. Shri Suresh
Prabhu pointed out that transparency in the Railway functioning has been given
top priority and the entire tender process has been made online. He said that
Indian Railways is working on ERP Software system which has been rated by some
agencies as the largest such project anywhere in the world. He said that
emphasis is also being given on accountability. He said that the steps have
also been initiated to tap non-fare revenue in a big way and a separate
directorate has been set up for handling this subject exclusively. Referring to
the recently launched time tabled train of CONCOR, The Railway Minister said
that more such time tabled freight trains will be run in future. The Railway
Minister also informed that the Indian Railways is forming joint venture
companies with different state governments which will further help in
proliferating Railway Infrastructure across the nation.
Speaking
on the occasion, Minister of state for Railways Shri Manoj Sinha said that
Railways is going to make all out efforts to increase its freight loading and
hence its freight revenue. He said that it is always useful to maintain a two -
way dialogue between Railway administration and Railway customers as it leads
to better policy formulation.
Member Traffic,
Railway Board Shri Mohd. Jamshed made a detailed presentation regarding the
initiatives taken by the Ministry of Railways to attract traffic and the action
plan for meeting the future challenges.
Salient Feature
of the Presentation made by Member Traffic:
· A number of
initiatives have been taken for capacity development- Lines and Terminals by
MOR. Details are as under-
·
Total
investment of Rs. 8.56 lakh Cr planned (2015-19)
·
Review
of Siding policy – simplified procedure, Timelines for projects, Reduced
overheads, Online monitoring of progress.
·
Additional
Terminals: Under Mission hundred, 62 sidings/PFTs targeted to be commissioned
during the current year.
·
A
number of initiatives have been taken by MOR towards rationalising the tariff
structure and also facilitating smaller cargo transportation by rail. Details
are as under:-
·
Introduction
of New Delivery Models – Inter-modal – ‘Roadrailer service’ and Ro-Ro, dwarf
double stack.
·
Port
Congestion Charge-@ 10% on all traffic originating from Ports discontinued
w.e.f. 13/04/2016.
·
Busy
Season Surcharge of 15% on basic freight removed w.e.f 01.05.2016 (upto
30.06.2016.)
·
All
covered wagons opened for loading of Two-Point / Multi Point Destination.
·
Mini
Rake Loading – Distance restriction eased – 400 kms to 600 kms (w.e.f.
15/03/2016)
·
Elimination
of Dual Freight policy for Export Iron Ore w.e.f. 09/05/2016.
·
New
Delivery Model – Introduction of Ro-Ro Service between Bihta and Turki on
across Digha Bridge (25-5-16)
·
Time-Tabled
Freight Service – Container Train between Delhi-Whitefield in 70 hrs – ‘Cargo
Express’ (15-6-16)
·
Logistics
Plan kept in abeyance w.e.f. 17-6-16- Now Eastern Ports can receive coal for
Central Indian Power Plants.
·
Key
Customer Managers have been appointed for each commodity segment.
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AKS/MKV/AK