New Delhi, October 26: With an aim to boost railways as an efficient medium to move export logistics, the Railways is planning to overhaul its regulations in this regard. According to a draft policy, the Railways is looking at eliminating the mandatory 100% weighment requirements for containerized export rakes, introducing mini container rakes for high value goods and opening up private sector participation for maintaining freight wagons.
Under the current operational framework, containerized export cargo has to undergo mandatory 100% weighment checks at inland rail depots and terminals before being dispatched to maritime ports. The Ministry of Railways plans to exempt this role, significantly reducing terminal dwell times, eliminating detention fees and improving overall rake availability across the network.
To broaden the export freight customer base, the Indian Railways is planning to introduce ‘mini container rakes’ of 25 wagons minimum as against the 45 wagons currently, allowing exporters to ship high-value manufactured goods from road transport to rail.
Besides this, the ministry is looking to permit private sector maintenance of freight wagons under the public-private partnership (PPP) model, allowing the industry to improve fleet availability, optimize turnaround times and create new service opportunities for private maintenance enterprises.
This move comes after industry representatives from container train operators, manufacturing associations, and logistics service providers have sought lower compliance overheads, as rigid operational norms have put rail container operators at a competitive disadvantage compared to road transport.
This policy is also aimed at capturing a larger share of India’s growing export cargo traffic, allowing India to reduce India’s overall logistics costs and broadening the railways’ share in the growing export logistics sector.
