The Hindu Business Line : Wagon leasing policy hailed

Mumbai, Feb. 26 Even though the private container train operators did not get everything they had sought from the Railway Budget, they appear to be upbeat that the rail container freight sector will get a leg-up from the Budget.

Most of them have especially welcomed the new wagon leasing policy, which would enable container operators to take wagons on lease. Given the acute shortage of wagons, the operators feel that this scheme, along with the stress that the Budget has given on manufacture of new generation wagons, would significantly help in easing the situation.

After the container freight operations were thrown open for private participation three years ago, some 15 operators have entered the fray, out of which some six or seven have started operations with their own trains. The total container traffic is expected to be 26 million tonnes (mt) this fiscal, out of which the new operators are expected to contribute between 1.5 mt and 2 mt.

Container Corporation of India, which used to dominate this sector before the entry of the private players, at present operates 146 trains, while its private sector competitors run about 45 trains.

The Railway Ministry expects rail containers to handle at least 20 mt of the total expected box traffic of 100 mt by 2011.

As per the Rail Budget unveiled by the Railway Minister, Mr Lalu Prasad, the new wagon leasing policy will allow rail customers and container operators to take wagons on lease. Wagon leasing companies will have to get registered under the scheme, for which they should have a minimum net worth of Rs 250 crore. These companies will have to lease out special purpose wagons, high capacity wagons and container wagons.

Industry sources said rail customers faced a shortage of between 4,000 and 5,000 wagons per day during peak seasons for all categories of wagons. “The policy will certainly help keep our capital expenditure down. Today, we have to own our wagons, which cost upwards of Rs 13 crore each. But, now, we can take wagons on lease from companies such as GE Equipment for, let’s say, Rs 15 lakh a month. We can keep a healthy balance of owned and leased wagons,” Mr Sachin Bhanusali, President of Gateway Rail Freight Ltd, subsidiary of Gateway Distriparks Ltd, told Business Line.

The company, which owns six trains (with wagons), plans to add another five or six by the end of this fiscal. Another benefit that the operators got from the Budget was that railway land would be made available for setting up of goods terminals. The lands, wherever available, will be given on lease at prescribed rates through open tendering and companies that construct terminals on railway lands will be required to guarantee at lease 0.5 mt of traffic per annum during the first year and at lease one mt from the third year onwards.

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