Dedicated Freight Corridor Project : Indian Railways
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Indian Railways’ Trishul & Garuda long haul freight trains: Effective solution for capacity constraints
By Devanjana Nag | October 11, 2021 11:12 AM
Some of the key benefits of running these long haul freight trains include saving of path across congested routes, maximizing the throughput of critical sections, quicker transit time, saving in crews.
Trishul is South Central Railways' first long haul train comprising of three freight trains, i.e., a total of 177 wagons.
Long Haul Freight Trains: A big boost to freight movement! For the first time ever, Indian Railways has run two long haul freight trains “Trishul” and “Garuda” over the South Central Railway network successfully. These long haul freight trains which are twice or multiple times longer than the normal composition of Indian Railways’ freight trains, according to the Railway Ministry, provide a very effective solution to the problem of capacity constraints in critical rail sections. Some of the key benefits of running these long haul freight trains include saving of path across congested routes, maximizing the throughput of critical sections, quicker transit time, saving in crews.
According to the Railway Ministry, the long haul train- Trishul is South Central Railways’ first long haul train comprising of three freight trains, i.e., a total of 177 wagons. On 7 October 2021, this long haul freight train was started from the Kondapalli railway station of the Vijayawada Division to the East Coast Railway zone’s Khurda Division. The South Central Railway followed it up with the running of yet another similar one named Garuda on 8 October 2021 from Raichur of Guntakal Division to Manuguru of Secunderabad Division. The long haul freight trains, in both cases, comprised of empty open wagons for coal loading, meant for thermal power stations predominantly.
The Railway Ministry further said the South Central Railway zone is one of the five major freight loading railway zones on the Indian Railways network. The bulk of the South Central Railway zone’s freight traffic moves in certain arterial routes such as Ballarshah – Kazipet – Vijayawada, Kazipet – Secunderabad – Wadi, Visakhapatnam – Vijayawada – Gudur – Renigunta, Vijayawada – Guntur – Guntakal sections. As the bulk of its freight traffic has to pass through these major routes, it is important for the zonal railway to maximize throughput available across these critical railway sections, the Railway Ministry added.
Indian Railways’ Trishul & Garuda long haul freight trains: Effective solution for capacity constraints
The longest freight train run by the Indian railway is still the "SeeshNag" at 2.8 km length with 251 wagons. Imagine trains of this size running at 80+ km/hr on the DFCs. Freight costs would fall off a cliff.
By Devanjana Nag | October 11, 2021 11:12 AM
Some of the key benefits of running these long haul freight trains include saving of path across congested routes, maximizing the throughput of critical sections, quicker transit time, saving in crews.
Trishul is South Central Railways' first long haul train comprising of three freight trains, i.e., a total of 177 wagons.
Long Haul Freight Trains: A big boost to freight movement! For the first time ever, Indian Railways has run two long haul freight trains “Trishul” and “Garuda” over the South Central Railway network successfully. These long haul freight trains which are twice or multiple times longer than the normal composition of Indian Railways’ freight trains, according to the Railway Ministry, provide a very effective solution to the problem of capacity constraints in critical rail sections. Some of the key benefits of running these long haul freight trains include saving of path across congested routes, maximizing the throughput of critical sections, quicker transit time, saving in crews.
According to the Railway Ministry, the long haul train- Trishul is South Central Railways’ first long haul train comprising of three freight trains, i.e., a total of 177 wagons. On 7 October 2021, this long haul freight train was started from the Kondapalli railway station of the Vijayawada Division to the East Coast Railway zone’s Khurda Division. The South Central Railway followed it up with the running of yet another similar one named Garuda on 8 October 2021 from Raichur of Guntakal Division to Manuguru of Secunderabad Division. The long haul freight trains, in both cases, comprised of empty open wagons for coal loading, meant for thermal power stations predominantly.
The Railway Ministry further said the South Central Railway zone is one of the five major freight loading railway zones on the Indian Railways network. The bulk of the South Central Railway zone’s freight traffic moves in certain arterial routes such as Ballarshah – Kazipet – Vijayawada, Kazipet – Secunderabad – Wadi, Visakhapatnam – Vijayawada – Gudur – Renigunta, Vijayawada – Guntur – Guntakal sections. As the bulk of its freight traffic has to pass through these major routes, it is important for the zonal railway to maximize throughput available across these critical railway sections, the Railway Ministry added.
Indian Railways’ Trishul & Garuda long haul freight trains: Effective solution for capacity constraints
The longest freight train run by the Indian railway is still the "SeeshNag" at 2.8 km length with 251 wagons. Imagine trains of this size running at 80+ km/hr on the DFCs. Freight costs would fall off a cliff.
Indian Railways Is Now Looking For New Freight And High-Speed Rail Corridors
by Arun Kumar Das
Dec 17, 2021 01:13 PM
Indian Railways freight train carrying coal to thermal power plants. (Representative image)
With Indian Railways almost on the verge of completing the major sections in eastern and western dedicated freight corridors which will help in decongesting the rail network and reduce the logistics costs, it is now looking to identify new dedicated freight and high speed corridors.
The Ministry of Railways is working on detailed project report (DPR) for their three new DFCs - the East-Coast Corridor, the East-West Sub-Corridor and the North-South Sub-corridor.
"The railways is now in the process of identifying new dedicated freight and high speed corridors for the purpose of providing efficient passenger and freight transportation services," Minister of State for Railways Darshana Jardosh said.
While inaugurating the 14th International Rail Conference 2021 in New Delhi, she said "National Rail Plan is a major step to make a future ready system by 2030 as it would create capacity for future growth in demand up to 2050 and increase Railway’s modal share in freight to 45 per cent by 2030."
The three-day International Railway Equipment Exhibition (IREE), organised by Confederation of Indian Industries in association with the Railway Ministry from 16 December, witnessed participation of more than 200 companies, including key global players from Austria, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Japan Russia, USA, Switzerland. They are showcasing advanced technology and services for the rail transportation sector this year.
The exhibition also features strong participation of Indian Railways and display of achievements by railway production units, zonal/regional railways and public sector undertakings.
Jardosh also said that India is moving ahead on the path of achieving 100 per cent indigenisation of the components used in manufacturing of the rail coaches by the end of 2022.
The development and enhancement of the rail infrastructure continues to be an important aspect along with the upgradation of the existing infrastructure.
Under the National Monetisation Pipeline, a large number of stations will be developed through PPP mode under the model concession agreement. Fine examples of which are Bhopal and Gandhinagar which have been developed as world-class stations.
The National Rail Plan also envisages many initiatives — such as capacity utilisation of existing railways assets, long-term development plans to meet demands for doubling of lines, signaling, electrification of entire network, passenger stations, freight terminals, rolling stock, dedicated freight and high-speed rail corridors. 100 per cent electrification of the Indian Railways by 2024 is another aim which is on the verge of being fulfilled.
Railway chairman and chief executive officer Suneet Sharma while sharing the transformational journey of the Indian Railways said that over time the railways has adapted and progressed in great manner in terms of technologies, changes in transmission systems, traction systems, brake systems, wagons, coaches, design, etc.
Highlighting the achievements of the railways, Sharma further added that under the National Rail Plan, a large number of measures are being taken to create capacities and synergise with other modes of transport.
The vision 2024 document under the National Rail Plan aims at the development of rail infrastructure so as to enhance the capacities and throughput while strengthening the safety in train operations.
Over the last five years, CII has worked closely with Indian Railways in implementing energy efficiency and various environmental initiatives. As a result, 50 railway workshops and eight production units have achieved the GreenCo rating and 24 railway stations achieved green railway station rating.
Indian Railways Is Now Looking For New Freight And High-Speed Rail Corridors
by Arun Kumar Das
Dec 17, 2021 01:13 PM
Indian Railways freight train carrying coal to thermal power plants. (Representative image)
Snapshot
Snapshot
Indian Railways is now looking to develop new dedicated freight and high-speed corridors.
With Indian Railways almost on the verge of completing the major sections in eastern and western dedicated freight corridors which will help in decongesting the rail network and reduce the logistics costs, it is now looking to identify new dedicated freight and high speed corridors.
The Ministry of Railways is working on detailed project report (DPR) for their three new DFCs - the East-Coast Corridor, the East-West Sub-Corridor and the North-South Sub-corridor.
"The railways is now in the process of identifying new dedicated freight and high speed corridors for the purpose of providing efficient passenger and freight transportation services," Minister of State for Railways Darshana Jardosh said.
While inaugurating the 14th International Rail Conference 2021 in New Delhi, she said "National Rail Plan is a major step to make a future ready system by 2030 as it would create capacity for future growth in demand up to 2050 and increase Railway’s modal share in freight to 45 per cent by 2030."
The three-day International Railway Equipment Exhibition (IREE), organised by Confederation of Indian Industries in association with the Railway Ministry from 16 December, witnessed participation of more than 200 companies, including key global players from Austria, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Japan Russia, USA, Switzerland. They are showcasing advanced technology and services for the rail transportation sector this year.
The exhibition also features strong participation of Indian Railways and display of achievements by railway production units, zonal/regional railways and public sector undertakings.
Jardosh also said that India is moving ahead on the path of achieving 100 per cent indigenisation of the components used in manufacturing of the rail coaches by the end of 2022.
The development and enhancement of the rail infrastructure continues to be an important aspect along with the upgradation of the existing infrastructure.
Under the National Monetisation Pipeline, a large number of stations will be developed through PPP mode under the model concession agreement. Fine examples of which are Bhopal and Gandhinagar which have been developed as world-class stations.
The National Rail Plan also envisages many initiatives — such as capacity utilisation of existing railways assets, long-term development plans to meet demands for doubling of lines, signaling, electrification of entire network, passenger stations, freight terminals, rolling stock, dedicated freight and high-speed rail corridors. 100 per cent electrification of the Indian Railways by 2024 is another aim which is on the verge of being fulfilled.
Railway chairman and chief executive officer Suneet Sharma while sharing the transformational journey of the Indian Railways said that over time the railways has adapted and progressed in great manner in terms of technologies, changes in transmission systems, traction systems, brake systems, wagons, coaches, design, etc.
Highlighting the achievements of the railways, Sharma further added that under the National Rail Plan, a large number of measures are being taken to create capacities and synergise with other modes of transport.
The vision 2024 document under the National Rail Plan aims at the development of rail infrastructure so as to enhance the capacities and throughput while strengthening the safety in train operations.
Over the last five years, CII has worked closely with Indian Railways in implementing energy efficiency and various environmental initiatives. As a result, 50 railway workshops and eight production units have achieved the GreenCo rating and 24 railway stations achieved green railway station rating.
Indian Railways Is Now Looking For New Freight And High-Speed Rail Corridors
Gati-Shakti boxes, and Indian Railways’ strategy to woo more cargo
These boxes can change the way small businesses use rail transport, and can increase the revenue of the national transporter considerably.
By Mamuni Das
DECEMBER 24, 2021 / 05:44 PM IST
Generally reach stackers are used to handle containers, but Gati Shakti boxes can be handled with cheaper equipment like forklifts. (Representational image)
As Indian Railways seeks to attract more cargo from the roads and increase its share in the total domestic-freight movement, it is considering innovations in hardware such as tweaked containers, onboarding aggregators who can put together trainloads of cargo from small and mid-sized businesses, and deepening engagement with India Post’s network of post offices.
First, specially designed containers of small size, and international-standard sized containers with higher carrying-capacity are being inducted, to help the national transporter attract goods such as two-wheelers, fast-moving consumer durables, and fly-ash, reckons the maker of such boxes. On a recent occasion, when Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw stopped by at the factory of the firm that has designed these smaller boxes, he remarked that these small boxes will help small businesses.
Later, closely inspecting another avatar of the specially designed boxes for Indian conditions, stacked in threes at a container terminal along the Western dedicated freight corridor, Vaishnaw christened these tweaked boxes as Gati Shakti. Through this act, the minister linked the boxes to the government’s larger Gati Shakti vision, which includes digitisation, fast-tracking of infrastructure projects and bringing down the cost of logistics in India.
During the visit, the Minister was bullish on the business prospect of such small boxes, stating they could bring extra cargo load of hundreds of million tonnes for railways translating to revenue of tens of thousands of crore, according to an official.
The history of Gati-Shakti boxes
The small containers are designed by Kalyani Cast Tech, a New Delhi-based company floated by Naresh Kumar, a former Indian Railways officer.
Six of these boxes can fit into a train wagon, which otherwise can carry only one international standard container of forty feet unit (FEU) or two twenty feet unit (TEU) boxes, Kumar, director, Kalyani Cast Tech, told Moneycontrol.
For the uninitiated, globally, there are two standard-sized containers to carry cargo across countries-–TEU and FEU. Both have a gross load carrying capacity of about 30.5 tonne, which nets off to 27.5 tonne cargo payload, after subtracting the weight of container itself (3 tonne).
Currently, India has two box manufacturers – Hindustan Vacuum Glass (erstwhile DCM Shriram-Hyundai JV) and Kalyani Cast Tech. Till some years back, there were three-four more players, but they could not compete with cheaper boxes made in China and went out of business, pointed out an industry source.
The potential of these specially designed small boxes can be gauged from this instance—they can carry 40 per cent more two wheelers per train compared to what railways move in their wagons – lowering the cost of transportation for two-wheelers. Kalyani Cast Tech, which has seen interest in the smaller box from two-wheeler manufacturers, expects to start making these small boxes soon for a company that specialises in rail-based automobile transportation.
All technical approvals are in place, said Kumar, adding that he is hoping for further clarity on charges from the Railways.
Kumar has another tweaked container–in one of the standard international sizes, but with 22 per cent more load-bearing capacity--that will enable moving flyash on the rail tracks. These strengthened containers (TEU size) will have a load-bearing capacity of 33.5 tonne instead of 27 tonne, said Kumar. He has already received an order to make 270 such containers from a newer container train operating firm that now transports fly-ash using the roads.
This new box can help Railways earn 10 per cent more revenue per trip, due to the higher weight-carrying capacity, estimated Kumar.
Kalyani Cast Tech, which has its factory in Rewari and manufactures six containers a day, is on an expansion mode, already having acquired land. “In the next four months, we will start making 15-20 containers a day,” informed Kumar, claiming that the company is already the single-largest container manufacturer in the country.
Coming back to the small boxes, these allow companies to book one-sixth of a container space, with their goods safely ensconced in the smaller, Gati Shakti box.
Currently, small businesses are unable to take full advantage of low-cost rail-transportation, since most often the businesses either have to book larger containers than needed or share a container with goods of other players. Sharing the container may mean exposing their goods before their destination points, multiple times.
Smaller Gati Shakti boxes also fit into small, pick-up trucks, so that they can travel into cities through the day. Large trucks have time limits placed on them in many cities. This is not to say that Gati Shakti boxes cannot be transported in standard large trucks, because they can be. Wherever required, upto six of these small boxes can fit onto a large truck.
With these small Gati-Shakti containers, customers can save on real-estate costs since they needn’t book a covered terminal space, and on handling costs since the boxes can be lifted with cheaper equipment such as forklifts instead of reach-stackers. A forklift costs about Rs 8 lakh while a reach stacker costs about Rs 2.25 crore.
That said, bringing in innovations to the stubborn, globally standardised container market has proved challenging.
Intermodal boxes may fit into Indian Railways’ strategy to bring forth a solution to lower the logistics cost for small businesses and people in remote places, who do not benefit from the lower charges levied by Railways. “We are innovating big time in this area, hoping to bring a cogent solution. The innovation will involve process re-engineering, door-to-door services, transparent way of billing or charging, it will go a long way in helping these businesses,” Vaishnaw said, speaking at a CII conference recently.
Partnering with Aggregators
To take benefits of low-cost rail-transport to more small and mid-sized businesses in the country, Railways has also been thinking of onboarding more cargo aggregators.
“One thinking within the Railways is to have aggregators put together smaller chunks of goods, collecting enough load from fragmented small and mid-sized players to book a sizable share of a train,” said a second railways official.
Interestingly, the forces unleashed by the pandemic are shifting cargo transport trends globally. For instance, post pandemic, the US market saw e-commerce retailers using more of railroads and a rise in intermodal (container) usage of trains, according to a Northwestern University Transportation Centre report. This habit inculcated during the pandemic is proving to be lasting, as the trucking sector in the US battles labour shortage.
In India too, Indian Railways has in the recent past, tried to woo e-commerce players such as Amazon, Flipkart and other retailers. After the pandemic struck, Amazon also rode the parcel trains of Indian Railways in 2020. These were separate from the parcel trains (bit like covered passenger coaches) of Indian Railways -- and not intermodal boxes.
Indian Railways is also exploring whether its older, high-capacity passenger carrying coaches which are now past their expiry date can be repurposed for carrying parcel cargo.
While the role of humble international standard-sized container in aiding world trade is well documented, its use in railways for freight movement is almost marginal. Only five per cent of cargo by weight in railways is ferried in containers. The lion’s share is carried in different types of wagons. That’s also because of the type of stuff Railways is used to carrying—steel, coal, iron, fertiliser among others.
As railways vie to grab a bigger share of finished goods such as FMCGs and consumer durables, use of containers will become more crucial, reckons a container train executive.
Railways’ deepening ties with India Post
Indian Railways is planning to rollout an innovative solution in the cargo space by the third quarter of 2022, and post offices and postmen will be a large part of that service and shifting the cargo to railways, said Ashwini Vaishnaw in a forum, a few days back.
More than any of his predecessors, Vaishnaw is uniquely positioned to deepen this relationship between Indian Railways and India Post in the cargo space as besides being the minister of railways, he is also the minister of telecommunication, and as part of that portfolio, he heads the government’s postal network. Another predecessor who had tried exploring synergies in these two spaces was Manoj Sinha.
On its part, India Post, with its country wide network has been slowly increasing its scope to service e-commerce cargo. It has set a target to increase its parcel handling capacity to 8 lakh parcels per day from 2 lakh parcels a day, as per its annual report. For transporting and delivering packets and parcels of various sizes, India Post already uses a mix of railway and road network across the country.
However, mapping synergies between two of the world’s largest organisations—Indian Railways and India Post, may prove a game-changer in the space of cargo movement.
In fact, Kalyani Cast Tech, the maker of Gati Shakti box, is in touch with railways and India Post to proliferate the use of its innovative containers.
Containerised cargo — that comprise a small chunk of total cargo for the Indian Railways –have seen good growth this fiscal. In eight months till November this year, Railways has carried 47 million tonne (mt) of containerised cargo showing a 25 per cent higher loading compared to the corresponding period of previous year, according to Indian Railways data.
Gati-Shakti Boxes, And Indian Railways’ Strategy To Woo More Cargo
These boxes can change the way small businesses use rail transport, and can increase the revenue of the national transporter considerably.
By Mamuni Das
DECEMBER 24, 2021 / 05:44 PM IST
Generally reach stackers are used to handle containers, but Gati Shakti boxes can be handled with cheaper equipment like forklifts. (Representational image)
As Indian Railways seeks to attract more cargo from the roads and increase its share in the total domestic-freight movement, it is considering innovations in hardware such as tweaked containers, onboarding aggregators who can put together trainloads of cargo from small and mid-sized businesses, and deepening engagement with India Post’s network of post offices.
First, specially designed containers of small size, and international-standard sized containers with higher carrying-capacity are being inducted, to help the national transporter attract goods such as two-wheelers, fast-moving consumer durables, and fly-ash, reckons the maker of such boxes. On a recent occasion, when Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw stopped by at the factory of the firm that has designed these smaller boxes, he remarked that these small boxes will help small businesses.
Later, closely inspecting another avatar of the specially designed boxes for Indian conditions, stacked in threes at a container terminal along the Western dedicated freight corridor, Vaishnaw christened these tweaked boxes as Gati Shakti. Through this act, the minister linked the boxes to the government’s larger Gati Shakti vision, which includes digitisation, fast-tracking of infrastructure projects and bringing down the cost of logistics in India.
During the visit, the Minister was bullish on the business prospect of such small boxes, stating they could bring extra cargo load of hundreds of million tonnes for railways translating to revenue of tens of thousands of crore, according to an official.
The history of Gati-Shakti boxes
The small containers are designed by Kalyani Cast Tech, a New Delhi-based company floated by Naresh Kumar, a former Indian Railways officer.
Six of these boxes can fit into a train wagon, which otherwise can carry only one international standard container of forty feet unit (FEU) or two twenty feet unit (TEU) boxes, Kumar, director, Kalyani Cast Tech, told Moneycontrol.
For the uninitiated, globally, there are two standard-sized containers to carry cargo across countries-–TEU and FEU. Both have a gross load carrying capacity of about 30.5 tonne, which nets off to 27.5 tonne cargo payload, after subtracting the weight of container itself (3 tonne).
Currently, India has two box manufacturers – Hindustan Vacuum Glass (erstwhile DCM Shriram-Hyundai JV) and Kalyani Cast Tech. Till some years back, there were three-four more players, but they could not compete with cheaper boxes made in China and went out of business, pointed out an industry source.
The potential of these specially designed small boxes can be gauged from this instance—they can carry 40 per cent more two wheelers per train compared to what railways move in their wagons – lowering the cost of transportation for two-wheelers. Kalyani Cast Tech, which has seen interest in the smaller box from two-wheeler manufacturers, expects to start making these small boxes soon for a company that specialises in rail-based automobile transportation.
All technical approvals are in place, said Kumar, adding that he is hoping for further clarity on charges from the Railways.
Kumar has another tweaked container–in one of the standard international sizes, but with 22 per cent more load-bearing capacity--that will enable moving flyash on the rail tracks. These strengthened containers (TEU size) will have a load-bearing capacity of 33.5 tonne instead of 27 tonne, said Kumar. He has already received an order to make 270 such containers from a newer container train operating firm that now transports fly-ash using the roads.
This new box can help Railways earn 10 per cent more revenue per trip, due to the higher weight-carrying capacity, estimated Kumar.
Kalyani Cast Tech, which has its factory in Rewari and manufactures six containers a day, is on an expansion mode, already having acquired land. “In the next four months, we will start making 15-20 containers a day,” informed Kumar, claiming that the company is already the single-largest container manufacturer in the country.
Coming back to the small boxes, these allow companies to book one-sixth of a container space, with their goods safely ensconced in the smaller, Gati Shakti box.
Currently, small businesses are unable to take full advantage of low-cost rail-transportation, since most often the businesses either have to book larger containers than needed or share a container with goods of other players. Sharing the container may mean exposing their goods before their destination points, multiple times.
Smaller Gati Shakti boxes also fit into small, pick-up trucks, so that they can travel into cities through the day. Large trucks have time limits placed on them in many cities. This is not to say that Gati Shakti boxes cannot be transported in standard large trucks, because they can be. Wherever required, upto six of these small boxes can fit onto a large truck.
With these small Gati-Shakti containers, customers can save on real-estate costs since they needn’t book a covered terminal space, and on handling costs since the boxes can be lifted with cheaper equipment such as forklifts instead of reach-stackers. A forklift costs about Rs 8 lakh while a reach stacker costs about Rs 2.25 crore.
That said, bringing in innovations to the stubborn, globally standardised container market has proved challenging.
Intermodal boxes may fit into Indian Railways’ strategy to bring forth a solution to lower the logistics cost for small businesses and people in remote places, who do not benefit from the lower charges levied by Railways. “We are innovating big time in this area, hoping to bring a cogent solution. The innovation will involve process re-engineering, door-to-door services, transparent way of billing or charging, it will go a long way in helping these businesses,” Vaishnaw said, speaking at a CII conference recently.
Partnering with Aggregators
To take benefits of low-cost rail-transport to more small and mid-sized businesses in the country, Railways has also been thinking of onboarding more cargo aggregators.
“One thinking within the Railways is to have aggregators put together smaller chunks of goods, collecting enough load from fragmented small and mid-sized players to book a sizable share of a train,” said a second railways official.
Interestingly, the forces unleashed by the pandemic are shifting cargo transport trends globally. For instance, post pandemic, the US market saw e-commerce retailers using more of railroads and a rise in intermodal (container) usage of trains, according to a Northwestern University Transportation Centre report. This habit inculcated during the pandemic is proving to be lasting, as the trucking sector in the US battles labour shortage.
In India too, Indian Railways has in the recent past, tried to woo e-commerce players such as Amazon, Flipkart and other retailers. After the pandemic struck, Amazon also rode the parcel trains of Indian Railways in 2020. These were separate from the parcel trains (bit like covered passenger coaches) of Indian Railways -- and not intermodal boxes.
Indian Railways is also exploring whether its older, high-capacity passenger carrying coaches which are now past their expiry date can be repurposed for carrying parcel cargo.
While the role of humble international standard-sized container in aiding world trade is well documented, its use in railways for freight movement is almost marginal. Only five per cent of cargo by weight in railways is ferried in containers. The lion’s share is carried in different types of wagons. That’s also because of the type of stuff Railways is used to carrying—steel, coal, iron, fertiliser among others.
As railways vie to grab a bigger share of finished goods such as FMCGs and consumer durables, use of containers will become more crucial, reckons a container train executive.
Railways’ deepening ties with India Post
Indian Railways is planning to rollout an innovative solution in the cargo space by the third quarter of 2022, and post offices and postmen will be a large part of that service and shifting the cargo to railways, said Ashwini Vaishnaw in a forum, a few days back.
More than any of his predecessors, Vaishnaw is uniquely positioned to deepen this relationship between Indian Railways and India Post in the cargo space as besides being the minister of railways, he is also the minister of telecommunication, and as part of that portfolio, he heads the government’s postal network. Another predecessor who had tried exploring synergies in these two spaces was Manoj Sinha.
On its part, India Post, with its country wide network has been slowly increasing its scope to service e-commerce cargo. It has set a target to increase its parcel handling capacity to 8 lakh parcels per day from 2 lakh parcels a day, as per its annual report. For transporting and delivering packets and parcels of various sizes, India Post already uses a mix of railway and road network across the country.
However, mapping synergies between two of the world’s largest organisations—Indian Railways and India Post, may prove a game-changer in the space of cargo movement.
In fact, Kalyani Cast Tech, the maker of Gati Shakti box, is in touch with railways and India Post to proliferate the use of its innovative containers.
Containerised cargo — that comprise a small chunk of total cargo for the Indian Railways –have seen good growth this fiscal. In eight months till November this year, Railways has carried 47 million tonne (mt) of containerised cargo showing a 25 per cent higher loading compared to the corresponding period of previous year, according to Indian Railways data.
Gati-Shakti Boxes, And Indian Railways’ Strategy To Woo More Cargo
These new boxes can be triple stacked too:
These boxes are shorter in height but still stacking 3 of them will increase the effective height of the train slightly. But the height will remain within the limitations of the DFC. It won't get too close to the overhead electric lines.
We were just getting used to the sight of double stacked containers on Indian freight trains. We will have triple stacked containers in the future. The railways have been very proactive in bringing in new types of wagons, containers & other freight carrying equipment to improve their efficiency.
There are other low hanging fruits for the railways to go after. Here is a photo of a freight train carrying double stacked containers:
Notice how the usually humongous WDG4 EMD loco looks dwarfed by the height of the containers. The raised OHEs of the DFCs brings in the possibilities of operating taller & more powerful locos. That way the catenary wont have to reach as far up to find the OHEs & we can also have more powerful locos at about the same length.
Imagine the WAG-12B, but it is taller with more powerful batteries & alternators. That would be pretty cool.
From 110 kmph to secure locking, check salient features of Indian Railways’ New Modified Goods High-Speed (NMGH) Rake
The first rake of High Speed NMG, comprising a total of 25 coaches and having various special features, was rolled out from Bhopal in Madhya Pradesh.
Written By Devanjana Nag
December 30, 2021 2:39:29 pm
NMGH Coach Prototype at Parel Workshop
New Modified Goods High Speed Rake: Indian Railways’ first-ever New Modified Goods High Speed Rake, converted from Integral Coach Factory (ICF) design non air-conditioned coaches into Automobile Carrier Coaches boast special features and is fit for speed of 110 Km per hour. A few months ago, the first rake of High Speed NMG, comprising a total of 25 coaches and having various special features, was rolled out from Bhopal in Madhya Pradesh. According to the national transporter, the New Modified Goods High Speed Rake offers various benefits. Some of the major benefits of this New Modified Goods High Speed Rake are as follows:
Interior of the NMGH Rake:
Improved lighting inside NMGH Coach Prototype at Parel Workshop:
From 110 kmph to secure locking, check salient features of Indian Railways’ New Modified Goods High-Speed Rake
The first rake of High Speed NMG, comprising a total of 25 coaches and having various special features, was rolled out from Bhopal in Madhya Pradesh.
Written By Devanjana Nag
December 30, 2021 2:39:29 pm
NMGH Coach Prototype at Parel Workshop
New Modified Goods High Speed Rake: Indian Railways’ first-ever New Modified Goods High Speed Rake, converted from Integral Coach Factory (ICF) design non air-conditioned coaches into Automobile Carrier Coaches boast special features and is fit for speed of 110 Km per hour. A few months ago, the first rake of High Speed NMG, comprising a total of 25 coaches and having various special features, was rolled out from Bhopal in Madhya Pradesh. According to the national transporter, the New Modified Goods High Speed Rake offers various benefits. Some of the major benefits of this New Modified Goods High Speed Rake are as follows:
- The New Modified Goods High Speed Rake is fit to run at a speed of 110 km per hour against 75 km per hour in NMG
- Utilization of maximum width and height available inside the NMGH coach
- Provision of natural sun light arrangement made in NMGH rake
- Provision of retro-reflective markers for the guidance of automobile drivers
- Barrel type locking arrangement on the end door provided for secure locking
- On both side, 4-4 louvers have been provided for natural ventilation
Interior of the NMGH Rake:
Improved lighting inside NMGH Coach Prototype at Parel Workshop:
From 110 kmph to secure locking, check salient features of Indian Railways’ New Modified Goods High-Speed Rake