The Hindu Business Line : Concor's major wagon acquisition plan — To spend up to Rs 1,500 cr over five years

Containers stacked in Concor's depot in New Delhi. The corporation is going on a buying spree that includes specialised wagons for its automobile carrier project too.

STARTING this fiscal, Container Corporation of India (Concor) plans to spend Rs 1,250-1,500 crore for acquiring wagons over a five-year period.

"We plan to spend Rs 250-300 crore every year on acquiring wagons over the next five years," a senior official told Business Line. The organisation plans to acquire at least 1,000 wagons a year from 2005-06 to 2009-10.

Concor acquired 1,800 high-speed wagons in the last 15 months. "Our wagon fleet has improved 55 per cent with these additions during the last one year period," the official added.

In 2005-06, the company will add another 1,300 wagons. For, 2006-07 yet another 1,000 wagons will be added. Moreover, plans are being finalised for about 1,000 wagons during 2007-08. "We had invited bids and are in the process of firming up the orders," the official said.

This plan, however, excludes the specially designed wagons that Concor will acquire for its automobile carrier project. Concor has already designed special wagons for transporting vehicles and has acquired the necessary clearance from the Lucknow-based Research Designs and Standards Organisation (RDSO). RDSO is the standards and design arm of Indian Railways.

Moreover, Concor is also in talks with wagon manufacturers for acquisition of these wagons, which are expected to be costlier than the usual high-speed wagons the company acquires. With an aim to offer door-to-door transportation solutions to automobile companies, the public sector unit plans to join hands with a player having expertise in transporting vehicles in the road sector to tie up the last-mile connectivity issues at both ends of the rail link.

It is finalising a partner with which it can offer these services through a joint venture. The company has had talks with most of the auto majors, including Maruti Udyog, Tata Motors and Hyundai, to finalise its automobile carrier project.

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