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At a time when the Railways is going all out to lure non-coal cargo, several existing and potential freight customers said they want the transporter to increase speed of freight trains and relax policies to move more cargo to the rail sector.
In an interactive session held here on Thursday, Maruti Suzuki India (MSIL) said it would like to send as much traffic as possible through the rail mode, but wanted more speed. “Potentially they are the best. We would like to use as much of Railways as is possible. We send only 6 per cent of our manufactured cars by rail. We would like to send 20 per cent of vehicles by train in the next three years. We would like speedier trains. The rakes are owned by us, but they go very slow. The average speed is pretty low. If I put a rake, it costs money. But, if it is under-utilised as half the time it’s not moving or moving slow, then it doesn’t work,” RC Bhargava, Chairman, MSIL, told BusinessLine , on the sidelines of the meet.
Bhargava said: “We want to send cargo to other places in Central India, North East and the East, where we have to put up distribution centres. But, the essential condition is the speed of the rake. I want to utilise my wagons intensively. If they do it fast, their costs will be very competitive.”.
Jindal Steel and Power said that rail was their preferred mode and welcomed the removal of congestion surcharge and price differential. It, however, sought more freight rationalisation for the steel and mines sector. “Some of the concerns, which we had raised three months ago, have been addressed. As an organisation, about 67 per cent of our cargo is by rail. We would like to take it to 75 per cent by this year-end,” Ravi Uppal, MD and CEO, Jindal Steel and Power, said.
While Tata Steel’s Peeyush Gupta, V-P-Steel, Marketing and Sales, wanted to know if the carrying capacity of wagons could be increased to allow movement of longer hot and cold rolled coils, SAIL’s Director Commercial Binod Kumar said next year, they would be able to offer 50 per cent higher cargo volumes.
Among the Railways’ non-coal customers who attended Thursday’s meet were MSIL, Tata Steel, Steel Authority of India Ltd, Jindal Steel and Power Ltd, RINL, Container Corporation of India, NALCO and Hindalco.
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