The Hindu Business Line : Rlys drops 10% surcharge on mini, 2-point rakes

New Delhi May 10 The Railways today announced that it would drop the 10 per cent surcharge on mini-rake and two-point rake services till further notice. Mini rakes are less than full-train load services and two-point rakes allow companies to load or unload a train at two points.

"The move has been taken with an eye to attract more cement traffic," Mr V.N. Mathur, Member-Traffic, Railway Board, told presspersons on the sidelines of a press conference here today.

He explained that Railways had seen a drop in cement traffic in April — this was a move to attract more cement traffic to trains. Incidentally, the surcharge has been withdrawn only "till further notice".

The cement industry has also demanded lower tariff levels for moving fly-ash in trains. "Since fly-ash is a light commodity and only about 45 tonnes of fly-ash can be moved in a wagon (vis-à-vis a carrying capacity of over 58 tonnes as considered by Railways), the cement manufacturers have demanded a low tariff level," Mr J.P. Batra, Chairman, Railway Board, said here today.

Meanwhile, the domestic fertiliser industry has demanded that Railways should give priority to them while allotting rakes for transportation during busy season instead of importing fertiliser firms.

The Union Minister for Railways, Mr Lalu Prasad, inaugurated the first meeting of the Railway - Industry Coordination Committee here today. He requested the cement and steel industries to enter into long-term agreements with the Railways for a period ranging from 5 to 30 years so that those signing such agreements would be supplied rakes on demand even during the busy season.

To remove complaints regarding claims and refunds, it has been decided to organise special camps in all zonal railways in the first week of every quarter. The general managers will ensure that such claims/refunds do not remain pending for more than three month.

The Railways hopes that its share in the cement and steel transportation will increase to 200 million tonnes each by 2011-12.