Sunday, 24 July 2016
Tuesday, 12 July 2016
Time-tabled Freight Train ‘Auto Express’ flagged off from Gurgaon
Time-tabled Freight Train ‘Auto Express’ flagged off from Gurgaon
Time-tabled Freight Train for Auto Sectors
Gurgaon: After launching a time-tabled container freight train, the Ministry of Railways launched a time-tabled freight train for the auto sector on Delhi-Bengaluru route.
Targeting 25 per cent rail share in automobile traffic, railways launched time-tabled Auto Express from Gurgaon to Nidvanda to ensure faster delivery of cargo on 12th July, 2016.
The domestic auto sector is one of the largest in the world with annual production of about 24 million vehicles. During year 2015-16, IR has loaded 708 rakes carrying 2,35,907 units of four-wheeler / three-wheeler / two-wheeler.
IR’s present rail share in the automobile transportation is only about 3 per cent. Railways has also opened up good-sheds for container train operators, subject to certain conditions.
“Like our ever-growing population, auto population is also increasing on a faster rate. In fact auto sector is a fastest growing economy. If railways can tap it then it will be major source of revenue,” Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu said after launching the first time-tabled auto car freight train service between Gurgaon and Nidvanda (Bangalore) from here through video-conferencing.
He said that with today’s flag off that too with time-table run of auto-car freight train would ensure timely delivery of the automobiles which would increase confidence of auto industry on railway’s credibility.
At present about 2000 cars move per month between Gurgaon and Nidavanda. With launch of the time tabled run of the freight train for automobile traffic, the volume will go up and the number of trips are likely to increase resulting transportation of about 6000 cars a month.
Railway Board Member (Traffic) Mohd Jamshed said railways has earlier launched time-tabled Cargo Express and now Auto Express to ensure faster movement of traffic.
“These special trains have wagons to run 100 km per hour. So the travel duration has decreased from 70 hours to 57 hours.”
Jamshed further said auto cargo is time sensitive and hence time-tabled running is important to ensure quality service.
Railways opens up Parcel Services to Private Sector – Container Train Operators to run Parcel Special Trains
Railways opens up Parcel Services to Private Sector – Container Train Operators to run Parcel Special Trains
Railways has introduced the facility of Train Service Parcel Van in the Country!
New Delhi: The Railways today opened its parcel business segment to container train operators to run “parcel special trains” in a bid to shore up its earnings.
“Parcel business is increasing as it is a fast moving sector. We want to increase our parcel share which is currently not much,” Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu said after announcing the liberalised parcel policy here.
The Railways earn about Rs 2,000 crore a year in parcel business. It has set a target of Rs 3,000 crore for the current fiscal.
The commercial wing formulate strategies so as to encourage the agriculture / poultry trade to utilize railways for transport of perishable commodities including poultry products such as eggs, apart from Electronic Goods and Pharmaceuticals will be beneficial from the facility.
As per the new policy, container train operators (CTO) will be allowed to operate parcel special trains consisting of parcel vans. A parcel special train will have 20 parcel vans.
Prabhu said the initiative was mentioned in the rail budget. The facility is sure to give a big fillip to the transport of perishable commodities including Eggs from the region towards consumer destinations. The VPU service will hold a capacity for transport of 23 Tonnes of commodity, he said.
CTOs will aggregate the parcel cargo from customers and offer the same in full rake load. At the respective destinations, parcel cargo will be delivered to CTOs for further segregation and handing over to customers.
Prabhu said the Post and Telegraph department also has ambitious plans to increase their parcel business and the Railways can tie up with them.
Railway Board Member (Traffic) Mohd Jamshed said parcel operation was being currently carried in a very limited way and efforts are on to increase it in a significant way.
Parcel policy has been liberalised now and all zones have been asked to run parcel vans on lease, Jamshed said.
Asked what kind of goods will be targeted for parcel services, the official said “basically, white goods can be transported in parcel. Pharmaceuticals, electronics and other similar items can also be transported in a big way in parcel.” The perishable commodities loaded from these destinations shall include agriculture produce, fish and eggs etc., Therefore, the VPU service will immensely serve the business interest of the poultry / farming community in the region in particular.
CTOs will be permitted to avail the facility at container rail terminals, domestic container terminals, inland container depot, multi-modal logistic park and all railway terminals.
Saturday, 9 July 2016
APL Logistics brings double-stack Container Train service to India
APL Logistics brings double-stack Container Train service to India
Freight dedicated network: APL IndiaLink, the rail operations arm of APL Logistics, run its first double-stack container train service – from Mundra port for an inland container rail terminal at Kishangarh, near Delhi
Chennai: APL Logistics, a unit of the Singapore-based Neptune Orient Lines, has extended its famous double-stack container train service — that help customers load double the volume of cargo in a single voyage — to India.
APL (American Presidential Lines) pioneered the concept in early 1984 in US domestic rail operations.
APL IndiaLinx, the rail operations arm of APL Logistics in India, recently stacked 90 forty-foot boxes two-high on a train from Mundra port for an inland container rail terminal at Kishangarh, near Delhi, according to a company official from Singapore.
The double-stacked train operation followed the Indian Railways’ recent decision to allow stacked train access along this rail corridor. This was part of the Railways’ bigger project to provide a freight-dedicated network of railroads with double-stack train access connecting key gateway ports and major North Indian industrial centres before end 2016.
APL IndiaLinx plans to expand its stacked train service network as more rail corridors are allowed double-stack access, the official said without giving a deadline. In 2006 the company was granted the rail operating licence. It owns and operates 18 weekly rail services between inland container rail terminals in northern India and the gateway ports on India’s west coast.
India Infrastructure and Logistics Private Ltd was set up in 2006 as a joint-venture between APL and Hindustan Infrastructure Projects & Engineering Private Ltd to provide rail-based container transportation and related logistics in India. Its service is marketed under the brand APL IndiaLinx.
BENEFITS
When a customer has a huge volume of freight to move between two points, using trains offer traffic and environmental benefits over trucks. With double-stack trains, these benefits are even greater.
With the container boxes stacked two-high, a double-stack train can potentially double the capacity in a train run. This effectively allows the company to move boxes out of the port area at a faster velocity in each train run, thereby easing congestion.
In fact, it also frees up the highways for trucks to move cargoes into other locations not served by rail or that do not have sufficient capacity or distance to justify rail movement. The use of double-stack trains also allow to make fewer train trips. This means reduction in fuel and emission, said the official.
In the US, double-stack trains run regularly over an intricate rail network providing time-predictable and efficient connectivity between the coastal terminals, manufacturing and consumption centres inland, the official said.
Tuesday, 5 July 2016
Railways to begin Rail Connectivity to 21 Ports under Sagarmala Project
Railways to begin Rail Connectivity to 21 Ports under Sagarmala Project
New Delhi: The Ministry of Railways will be taking up 21 port-rail connectivity projects, at an estimated cost of more than Rs.20,000 Crores, as identified under the port-connectivity enhancement objective of Sagarmala, the flagship programme of the Ministry of Shipping.
These projects are aimed at strengthening the rail evacuation network and the last mile connectivity to the ports. In addition, another six projects are being considered by the Indian Port Rail Corporation Limited (IPRCL).
The Indian Port Rail Corporation Limited (IPRCL), which has been incorporated by the Ministry of Shipping, would take up the projects after prioritizing them. IPRCL has already awarded 3 port connectivity projects for Vishakhapatnam and Chennai ports for quick evacuation of cargo and another 19 projects are in the pipeline.
Many port-rail connectivity projects have been identified as part of the National Perspective Plan, April 2016, under the Sagarmala programme including development of heavy haul rail line from Ib Valley/Talcher to Paradip. The project will help in transportation of thermal coal from Mahanadi Coalfields Limited (MCL) to various coastal power plants in southern India via coastal shipping. Other rail connectivity projects to major ports like Tuticorin and non-Major ports like Dhamra, Gopalpur, Krishnapatnam have also been proposed.
These projects will enhance port connectivity to the hinterland and help in reducing logistics cost and time for cargo movement making Indian trade more competitive.
Sagarmala is the flagship programme of the Ministry of Shipping for promoting port-led development in India. It aims to achieve capacity expansion and modernization of sea-ports along India’s coastline, enhance port connectivity to the hinterland, facilitate port led- industrialization to promote trade and sustainable development of coastal communities.
The National Perspective Plan for Sagarmala Programme which was released in April by the Prime Minister identifies projects under the 4 major objectives of the programme – (i) Port Modernization & New Port Development, (ii) Port Connectivity Enhancement, (iii) Port-led Industrialization and (iv) Coastal Community Development. More than 150 projects have been identified which will mobilize investment of more than Rs. 4 lac crore and generate approximately 1 crore new jobs, including 40 lac direct jobs, over a period of 10 years. These projects are expected to generate annual logistics cost savings of close to Rs 35,000 crore and provide boost to India’s merchandise exports by $110 billion by 2025.
IR plans ‘Mission 350 Plus’ to build Bullet Train coaches, MagLev trains
IR plans ‘Mission 350 Plus’ to build Bullet Train coaches, MagLev trains
Indian Railways is planning various Bullet Trains coaches and MegLev Trains across the country, apart from the Mumbai-Ahmedabad one
Representational Image only – Siemens Russia MegLev in the Workshop
Mumbai: In the biggest scale-up of its ambitions so far, the Indian Railways has set up two committees – one to shepherd its plans to build bullet train coaches capable of running at speeds higher than 350 km per hour, and the second to explore the feasibility of running trains based on magnetic levitation or MagLev trains, as they are known worldwide.
The bullet train coach plan, christened Mission 350 Plus, will be headed by Inderjeet Singh, Executive Director (Carriage) at the Research Design and Standards Organisation (RDSO), the railway’s apex technical body. The MagLev exploration committee will be headed by Nitin Chowdhary, currently Executive Director, Mechanical Engineering (Development) at the Railway Board. Both the committees have been given two months to submit their reports. The two plans were discussed extensively under the ‘future readiness’ module of the Indian Railways’ Chief Mechanical Engineers Conference held at Ooty in Tamil Nadu recently.
Over 45 of the Railways’ top mechanical engineering officers, led by member (mechanical), Hemant Kumar, attended the conference. The move comes in the backdrop of the Railways firming up studies for various bullet train routes across the country, apart from the Mumbai-Ahmedabad one.
These routes include Delhi-Chennai, Delhi-Mumbai, Delhi-Kolkata and Mumbai-Chennai, all part of the Railways’ High Speed Diamond Quadrilateral as well as routes like Delhi-Agra-Lucknow-Varanasi-Patna, Hyderabad-Chennai and Chennai-Bengaluru- Thiruvanathapuram.
“A High Speed Rail Network (railway lingo for bullet trains) takes almost half a decade to go from the drawing board to the first pile on the ground. It could be a decade before work starts on any of these projects. Preparing to have some kind of homegrown expertise to build such coaches, rather than just looking to import, is a good move,” said a railway official.
The MagLev, currently in operation in China and Japan, is a much more expensive proposition though speeds touched by these trains are in excess of what some bullet trains can achieve. Recently, Japan managed to run a MagLev train at over 600 kmph during a test, which is a world record for a train’s speed.
Friday, 1 July 2016
India will soon have world class Railway stations: Rail Ministry
India will soon have world class Railway stations: Rail Ministry
Train journey in India will be a different experience altogether with upcoming world-class stations that will do away with long queues at station entry, untidy waiting halls and stinking toilets. 400 Railway Stations to get 100 Crore makeover, with Helipads, Executive Lounges and World Class Facilities
New Delhi: Flamboyant buildings with airport-like facilities, helipad, executive lounges are going to be the characteristics of Indian Railway stations in the years to come. Train journey in India will be a different experience altogether with upcoming world-class stations that will do away with long queues at station entry, untidy waiting halls and stinking toilets.
The station buildings will wear a swanky look with separate terminals for arrival and departure like the ones at airports. While the work has started on development of Habibganj as the first world class station, the Indian Railways is in the process of finalising bids for other railway stations. These include Surat and Gandhinagar in Gujarat and Anand Vihar and Bijwasan railway stations in Delhi, Chandigarh, Shivaji Nagar in Pune and SAS Nagar in Mohali.
A railway ministry official said consultations are being held with foreign experts to develop these stations with world-class amenities. Sources said Uttar Pradesh will have over 12 world-class stations – the maximum in any Indian state. The French Railway has taken up the work of developing Ambala and Ludhiana as worldclass stations while the French experts have also inspected the New Delhi railway station.
A railway board official said countries like Japan, South Korea, Belgium, Switzerland and Austria have also shown interest in developing railway stations in India. Sources in the railway ministry said the government will spend nearly Rs 100 crore for the development of 400 railway stations that were announced in the Railway Budget.
A railway board official said the stations will be developed by creating additional space that will also be used for commercial purposes like shopping malls, multiplexes, restaurants and offices.The most striking feature will, however, be separate terminals for arrival and departure of passengers. Such facilities are currently available only at airports.
“The proposed world class stations will have three levels. The top level will be used by outbound passengers while those arriving from trains will use subways in the basement to exit from the station building. There will be minimum passenger movement on the platforms,” said a senior official associated with the project. This aims at managing crowd at the railway stations that goes up manifold during festive rush. Habibganj station is the first railway station to be redeveloped through public private partnership mode under the station redevelopment programme of Indian Railway.
Total estimated cost of station redevelopment is Rs 100 crore while additional Rs 350 crore will be spent on commercial development. As per the plan, Habibganj will have have dedicated pick up and drop off parking facilities for the station users. Provision of parking for over 1,000 vehicles has been made at the stations.
“The world class stations will be designed as a multi modal transit hub. The stations will have adequate seating and waiting apace so as to reduce congestion. Also, these stations will have multiple entry/exits for better crowd management,” said railway spokesperson Anil Saxena.
“The stations will have segregated areas for passengers, commercial activities and railway officers. There will be dedicated approach roads for traffic to railway station along with municipal roads with its integration in circulating areas,” Saxena said. In Delhi, railways have planned overhaul of Anand Vihar terminal which caters to the trains bound for eastern states like Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh.
An Integrated Hub:
Apart from creation of new facilities, the station will be integrated with Anand Vihar station of Delhi Metro and the interstate bus terminal (ISBT).
“As part of Anand Vihar redevelopment plan, railways will remodel the station building on the lines of the airport. The station building will be separate arrival and departure decks while there will be ample space for a hotel, restaurants, coffee shops, multiplex, retail outlets and offices. Business of all sorts will be accommodated at the station building,” officials said.
The redevelopment plan of Anand Vihar is in advanced stage; bids for it will be invited soon. The upcoming railway station at Bijwasan will have ample scope for commercial development.
According to railways, redevelopment of stations will be a major source of revenue generation besides benefiting lakhs of passengers every day. For commercial exploitation, railways plan to raise multi-storey buildings on unused land and lease them out to private firms. In the year 2015-16, the railways have posted a deficit of over Rs 32,000 crore and the initiative aims at increasing revenue generation by commercially exploiting its resources.
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