• Investment World
• eWorld
• Brand Line
• Mentor
• Life
• Canvas
• Praxis
• Urban Pulse
• Brand Quest
• The New Manager

Stocks

• Quotes
• SE Diary
• Scoreboard
• Open-End Mutual Fund

Cross Currency

• Rates
  
  

Shipping

• Ports
  
  

Archives

• Yesterday
• Datewise
• Resources
• In Focus
• In Depth

Group Sites

• The Hindu
• The Hindu ePaper
• Business Line
• Business Line ePaper
• Sportstar
• Frontline
• The Hindu eBooks
• The Hindu Images

Mamuni Das

Hopes to grab a share of automobile transportation from roadways

New Delhi April 27 Indian Railways would soon be notifying haulage charges for moving lower-sized, double stack containers in the electric traction routes (under electric wire).

The new haulage rates are being issued with an aim to grab a share of the automobile transportation market to the railways from roads.

The rates are likely to be worked out at a level that makes car transportation cheaper by container trains vis-à-vis road transportation, according to official sources. This project formed a part of the Railway Minister, Mr Lalu Prasad's Budget speech in 2007.

Haulage rates are charges that container operators are required to pay Indian Railways for using its track and other infrastructure for containerised offering services.

These containers are lower in height (about 6 feet 4 inches) and have slightly more length than the ISO-standard sized containers. ISO standard containers are sized at 8.5x40 feet and 9.5x40 feet.

Trial run

Currently, Railways runs double stack containers (of ISO-standard size) on diesel routes, which do not have overhead electric wires.

Pipavav Rail Corporation Ltd — a 50-50 joint venture company of Indian Railways and Gujarat Pipavav Port Ltd — recently conducted trials for moving cars in specially designed containers that can accommodate more than double the number of cars per train than what is in use now. The trials were carried out along with one of the largest automobile manufacturers in the country.

By using these specially designed containers in electrified routes, 360 small cars or 270 medium or large cars can be moved per train. On specific diesel routes, triple stack containers can be moved, thus accommodating 440 small cars or 405 medium or large sized cars per train.

Incidentally, last year, the Railways had issued haulage rates specifically to move cars in specially designed wagons. This was after the Container Corporation of India (Concor) sought haulage rates from Indian Railways for moving cars in specially designed wagons.

Concor plans

However, the Railways' haulage rates were high, given the number of cars that could be accommodated per train with those wagon designs.

It did not make business sense for Concor to run the service with such haulage rates.

Concor is now reworking its auto-transportation project. It is also considering various designs for moving cars by trains.

The move could open up a new business opportunity for 15 container operators in the country including Pipavav Rail and Concor.

With India emerging as an automobile-manufacturing hub, transportation firms are eyeing this segment to provide hinterland connectivity.

On the Western segment, Indian Railways sees an opportunity for moving cars, with the Maruti Suzuki plant near New Delhi; Mahindra, Bajaj and Tata Motors near Mumbai, amongst others.

More Stories on : Automobiles | Railways

Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication :: Printer Friendly Page

Stories in this Section
Record rise in world rice output, trade expected

Copyright © 2007, The Hindu Business Line. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu Business Line