The Hindu Business Line : Slowdown effect: Container train operators start ‘parking’

Operating woes
Out of 74 rakes owned by pvt container operators, 10 were stabled on Rlys’ tracks
Operators to pay Rs 13,000 a day a rake as stabling charges
Approached Ministry for a drop in haulage charges

Mamuni Das

New Delhi, Nov. 8 Container train operators have started feeling the impact of slowdown. Many operators now prefer to park their rolling stock assets in their own terminals or the Indian Railways’ yards — rather than running empty rakes (since cargo availability has gone down).

“Stabling of rake is the last resort for an operator. An operator usually resorts to stabling (parking) when he is unable to cover the operating cost for running a rake from the cargo revenues,” said an official from a private container train company.

Out of about 74 rakes owned by private train operators, some ten rakes were stabled in the Railways’ system during the last few days because the companies wanted them so (and not because of congestion on rail tracks), according to sources in the know. For stabling their rakes in the Railways’ yards, companies have to pay the Railways Rs 13,000 a day a rake (pretty much like parking charges because the stabled rakes further congest the rail tracks).

So, while companies such as Concor, Gatewayrail (a subsidiary of Gateway Distriparks) and Adanis have their own terminals where they can park their rakes, others have to depend on the Railways infrastructure.

“Most of the private train operators like APL, Adanis, DPW and Boxtrans (subsidiary of JM Baxi Group) have resorted to stabling of rakes during the past few days,” said industry sources in the know. Container Corporation of India (Concor) is also running more empty rakes towards the Jawaharlal Nehru port, it is learnt.

Some operators (such as ETA, which has five rakes) have started operating in the domestic circuit due to lack of cargo in the export-import segment. If the situation persists for four-five months, many small operators will have to shut shop, said an industry official.

HAULAGE CHARGES

Container train operators have approached the Railways for a reduction in haulage charges across the board. Haulage charge is the money paid by container train operators for using rail infrastructure such as track and signalling system.

The Railways has already reduced haulage charges in the heavy-weight domestic segment by 10 per cent for container operators for the November 1-December 31 period. Most of the operators are also taking a re-look at their capacity expansion plans.

The Railway Ministry is yet to compile the container loading data for October, which will give a clearer picture of the slowdown in demand. But two container train operators whom Business Line spoke to pointed out that compared to the cargo availability in September, in October it has decreased by about 20 per cent for their companies.