The Hindu Business Line : Gujjar protest hits rail freight traffic on Delhi-Mumbai route

Kolkata, May 28 The agitation by the Gujjars in Rajasthan, which entered the fifth day today (Wednesday), has affected freight movement by rail on the busy Delhi-Mumbai route.

Particularly hit is the transportation of containers on the route, so much so that the Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT), faced with steady accumulation of import containers in all its three terminals, was forced to clamp restriction on the loading of the port-bound export containers in the various inland container depots, mostly owned and operated by Container Corporation of India (Concor), in the northern region.

The movement of container trains to and from the Gujarat ports of Mundra and Pipavav too has been affected, it is learnt.

The accumulation of import containers at the three JNPT terminals, it is estimated, will be over 9,000 TEUs – 4,300 TEUs in NSICT, 2,800 TEUs in GTI and another 2,000 TEUs in JNPT’s own terminal.

Alternative route

The Railway authorities have opened an alternative route via Bhopal. But the freight movement on that route is limited.

The diversion of mail/express passenger trains to this route has already made it heavily congested.

During the first two days of the agitation, there was no movement of freight trains at all.

The passenger trains always get priority over goods trains.

Subsequently, freight trains stranded at various points were diverted via Bhopal.

In normal situation, JNPT’s three terminals together handle about 20 container trains a day each direction (JNPT-Northern region direction for evacuation of import containers and Northern region-JNPT direction for arrival of export containers).

The number has dropped to half, since the beginning of the agitation, according to port sources.

A major terminal operator says it now handles only three trains a day as against six in normal situation.

Inquiries reveal that there is a move to withdraw the restriction on the loading of JNPT-bound export containers in northern region from today (Wednesday). But the container operators are keeping their fingers crossed.

The reopening of the original Delhi-Mumbai route (which is via Mathura-Bayana-Sawai Madhupur-Kota) is still uncertain.

The agitators are still camping on the tracks at Bayana. Once the agitation is withdrawn, the restoration of the damaged tracks and the signalling systems will take time.

Also, the transit time via the alternative route is longer and the route is already congested.

There has been no diversion of ships from the JNPT so far.

Where can the ships go? remarks the official of a foreign shipping line.

The Mundra and Pipavav ports, the two other major container handling ports on the west coast, too are in not too happily placed.