The Hindu Business Line : Double-stack rakes for Kandla Port

The Indian Railways will shortly provide three-four double-stack container rakes per week to the Kandla Port to augment the cargo handling capacity of the mega-port on the western coast especially in view of the emerging competition from the Mundra Port and adjoining the Mundra Special Economic Zone off the Gulf of Kutch.

A decision to this effect was taken on June 27 at a meeting held in Gandhidham, the headquarters of the Kandla Port Trust (KPT). "Yes, we have taken an in-principle decision in this regard. We have already notified availability of double-decker container rakes up to Gandhidham and Mundra. We would carry out due trial run of rakes and inspection of tracks in the next two weeks before we issue notification for extending it up to Kandla Port also," said Mr Arvind Khare, Divisional Railway Manager (DRM), Ahmedabad.

He told Business Line that the Railways would, to start with, be able to provide three-four rakes of a maximum height of eight-and-a-half-feet every week, depending upon the availability of racks. "We have to ensure that loads on the rakes and the tracks does not exceed beyond permissible limits," he added.

The work was being undertaken by the Kutch Railway Company Ltd (KRCL), a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) formed with equity participation of the Ministry of Railways (50 per cent), the KPT (26 per cent), Gujarat Adani Port Limited (GAPL, 20 per cent), and the Gujarat Government (four per cent) for the purpose of converting the Gandhidham-Palanpur-Samkhyali meter-gauge line to broad-gauge. The KRCL Board meeting held at Gandhidham on June 27 was chaired by the KPT Chairman, Mr A. Janardhana Rao, who is a Director on the KRCL Board.

KRCL has completed the gauge-conversion work on the Palanpur-Samkhyali segment and work on the Gandhidham-Palanpur segment is expected to be completed shortly, KPT sources said.

The Board took the decision to ensure smooth running of double-decker container rakes to Kandla, particularly in view of this port's container terminal readying for commissioning in the next four months.