1. RAILROAD24 CARGOTALK JUNE 2015
Suggesting a roadmap for growth
QHow did the Committee
approximate growth in
freight traffic between 9
and 15 per cent despite
the growth recorded at
four per cent during the
last four years?
A Committee was constituted
by the Ministry of Railways to identify
factors and issues affecting growth
of traffic (freight and passenger) and
suggest a plan of action for Traffic
Optimisation in the short term (during
2015-16) and long term (2018-19).
Various segments of growth in freight
and passenger traffic were critically
examined, that is on the freight side
growth of originating loading, NTKMs
and freight earnings were discussed.
The Committee made a thor-
ough analysis of traffic patterns and
transportation output of Indian
Railways for the last few decades,
particularly, during the last five
years.The Committee assessed the
potential traffic demand for rail trans-
portation of various sectors based
on the projection given by the core
sectors. Projections from coal sec-
tor alone indicate increase in coal
production from around 750 million
tonnes in 2014-15 to 1500 million
tonnes by 2020. Assuming that
these projections will materialise,
this commodity alone should be able
to generate coal transportation
demand for Indian Railways to more
than 1000 million tonnes by 2020.
The growth potential of Indian
Railways assessed by the
Committee for originating freight
loading is more than 1500 million
tonnes by 2018-19, which is much
below the estimates indicated in
Indian Railways Vision 2020 docu-
ment of December 2009.
The Committee has given the
caveat that more than nine per cent
growth would be achievable only
with the removal of short-term and
long-term identified bottlenecks and
by bringing about recommended
system improvements and policy
changes.The great leap forward of
15 per cent growth will come only
after commissioning of Eastern and
Western DFCs by the end of 2019.
QWhat are the
bottlenecks that have
hindered the growth of
freight traffic till date?
The Committee has made a
realistic examination of the exist-
ing bottlenecks on the Zonal
Railways that impacts the growth
of traffic. These have been
categorised as Network
Capacity Management, Terminal
Capacity Management, Wagon
& Loco Management, Pay
Load Management and Crew
Management. The long-term
bottlenecks are identified as
wagon augmentation, junction and
terminal augmentation, induction
of wagon stocks (both public and
private sector), availability of
locomotives and induction of crew.
QWhat changes are
required in rolling
stock and infrastructure
maintenance practices to
achieve the potential
estimated by Committee?
The recommendations for sys-
tem improvement are primarily those
which carry forward innovative meas-
ures already being taken by the
Zonal Railways. The recommenda-
tions in this regard are two-fold, i.e.,
meant for policy initiatives by the
Ministry of Railways and those to be
undertaken at Zonal Railways level.
Higher capacity and higher speed
wagons have to be inducted in the
system on priority, maintenance
practices, especially, routine overhaul
and periodical overhaul maintenance
has to be looked into in the backdrop
of limited capacity in the workshops
and the examination cycles may
have to be extended for longer peri-
ods for improving wagon availability
and reducing wagon turnaround.
QHow long would it
take for the capacity
of the existing terminals
to be augmented and
private freight terminals
to come up?
Capacity of the existing termi-
nals is being augmented by power
houses, industries and container
operators.It has been recommended
that development of private freight
terminals should be encouraged and
the policy should be liberalised.This
has also been announced in the
Railway Budget by the Minister for
Railways.
QWhat are the steps
suggested by the
Committee for
liberalisation of Wagon
capacity scheme?
Wagon capacity scheme should
also be liberalised to enable invest-
ments in wagon leasing and induction
of wagons.The Committee has sug-
gested induction of wagons through
PPP arrangements with PSUs and
also from private sector in large num-
ber for catering to the demands of
traffic in specified circuits.
QDoes Indian Railways
plan to make use of
satellite services for
safety of cargo too?
Indian Railways has to modernise
its systems to achieve the desired
goals. Use of satellite services for
operations, safety and other IT applica-
tions has become essential. Satellite-
based information could enable auto-
matic capture of train movement, data
for automatic control charting, accurate
passenger information through NTES,
real time information on freight trains,
eliminating requirement of track side
equipment, train tracking application
and even its potential use for in-cab
signalling along with its use as an
auxiliary collision avoidance system
and various other extended benefits.
Satellite service would certainly take
care of safety of cargo through live
tracking. The Committee has
recommended that the Indian
Railways should move forward in this
direction on a proactive basis.
ABEER RAY
A Committee formed by Indian Railways submitted a document to the Railway Minister
pointing out bottlenecks that have hindered its growth. Mohd Jamshed, AM(C&IS),
Chairman, Committee on Traffic Optimisation, MoR divulges details about the roadmap
would enable it to clock the desired growth rate within a stipulated timeframe.
Mohd Jamshed
AM(C&IS), Chairman, Committee on Traffic
Optimization, Ministry of Railways
The Indian Railways earned
`9,461.47 crore from freight trans-
portation in April 2015 as com-
pared to `8,071.18 crore during the
same period in 2014, an increase
of 17.23 per cent.The freight earn-
ings for last month were made up
of `4,623.77 crore through trans-
portation of 46.07 million tonnes
(MT) of coal, `573.12 crore from
ferrying 8.99 MT of iron ore for
exports, steel plants and other
domestic users and `872.99 crore
generated by way of carrying 9.38
MT of cement, informs Railway
Ministry data.
The national transporter
also earned `570.17 crore from
carrying 3.28 MT of food grains,
`502.08 crore from 3.47 mt of
petroleum, oil and lubricants,
`554.51 crore from 3.35 MT of pig
iron and finished steel from steel
plants and other points, `475.05
crore from 3.43 MTof fertilisers,
`178.65 crore from 1.64 MT of
raw materials for steel plants
except iron ore, `445.84 crore
from 3.72 MT via container serv-
ice and `665.29 crore from 6.48
MT of other goods.
Indian Railways
April’15 freight
up by over 17%
A network of temperature-
controlled warehouses and distri-
bution facilities would be built by
Indian Railways across the country
to extend its cold chain infrastruc-
ture.Container Corporation of India
(CONCOR), Central Warehousing
Corporation (CWC) and Central
Railside Warehouse Company
(CRWC) have been entrusted with
the start up and management of
new cold storage infrastructure.
Minister of State for Railways
Manoj Sinha said, “Under a pilot
project, CONCOR, CWC and
CRWC were asked to provide infra-
structure at five locations in addition
to Azadpur in Delhi to encourage
development of facilities for the
setting up of cold storage and
temperature-controlled perishable
cargo centres, as well as develop-
ing agri-retail outlets to be allotted
to different parties through Public
Private Partnership model.”
The statement also added,
“CRWC has been allowed a
maximum of two years of gestation
period from the date of executing
individual agreement with Railways
for construction and operationalisa-
tion of the warehouse complexes.”
IndianRailways
expandscoldchain
infrastructure