The Hindu Business Line : Zonal rlys mull declaring more stations/sidings as serving ports

Kolkata, Feb. 5 The zonal railways transporting large quantities of iron ore for exports are considering a proposal for declaring more stations/sidings as serving ports.

The present arrangement, under which a handful of stations/sidings have been so declared, is costing them dear. Under the arrangement, an iron ore exporter using station /siding that has been declared as serving port is required to pay 60 per cent surcharge on the basic freight. In order to circumvent the payment of the surcharge, many exporters, it is pointed out, are unloading the export consignments at stations/sidings, which are about 40/50 km away from the port serving stations/sidings and transporting the consignments to the port by road. In so doing, they are saving substantially on cost but the railways stands to lose revenue.

South Eastern Railway, which transports large quantities of iron ore to Haldia for exports, has noticed that the booking of rakes for stations away from Haldia, which has been designated as port serving, has suddenly jumped. For example, the Tamluk railway station, which is about 50 km from Haldia station, handled as many 17 rakes in January and most of these rakes are believed to be iron ore rakes. There are several such stations.

Other zonal railways like East Coast Railway or South Western Railway which also handle large quantities of ore for exports too, it is felt, have had a similar experience.

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