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The Indian Railways has banned loading of billets in boxes following derailments in Bilaspur division under the South East Central Railway. The derailed containers, it is felt, were not loaded properly, presumably because the consignments were not fastened and lashed in the right way. The ban has hit several private container train operators (Concor, the railways’ own subsidiary, does not handle billets). A large number of special type containers, the open top types used for loading billets and therefore unsuitable for loading other types of cargoes, have been rendered idle following the ban. But then, the Railways has not always been happy with private container operators due to other reasons. For example, the operators deploy BLC rakes, each rake capable of loading around 2600 tonnes, which is in conflict with Railways’ own interest. The Railways does not want any container rake to load more than 2,400 tonnes, the maximum loadability of a BCN rake. Also, it is felt that the items like sponge iron and billets should be transported in Railways’ own rakes and not in containers. The Railways has already banned loading of iron ore in containers.

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