Konkan Railway, Om Logistics eye RORO services on freight corridor

Several companies including Konkan Railway Corporation, Sonu Cargo Movers, Om Logistics, Inland World Logistics, SSK Devcon, Pal Enterprises have participated in the pre-bid meeting to run roll on roll off (RORO) trains on the dedicated rail freight corridor.

RORO trains will enable movement of loaded or unloaded trucks between two points.

The pre-bid meeting was held by Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation of India Ltd (DFCCIL), which had invited bids to run Roll On Roll Off on a 636 km track between New Rewari and New Palanpur, and back.

Konkan Railway has experience in running RORO trains in the Western region.

This section is targeted to be operational in March 2021, and DFCCIL expects to attract many new traffic to the western freight corridor.

At present, approximately 2,500-3,000 trucks ply daily between Rewari – Palanpur, according to official sources. All these trucks –with or without load – can simply drive on to a train and that train can move the truck fast between two points.

On the freight corridor, traffic will move at 75 km per hour, providing assured transit and delivery time of about 10 hours against 24-36 hours by road.

The solution is expected to be attractive in the backdrop of higher diesel prices plaguing transporters on road more than the railways.

Also, overall, Indian Railways has seen higher automobile traffic in the post-Covid-19 era. DFCCIL expect to get a traffic of roll-on roll off services equivalent of 2.4 rakes (rake represents an entire set of freight train) per day, and earn a revenue of ₹21.6 lakh per day and ₹81 crore a year.

Railway workshops at Jagadhri, Jamalpur and Izzatnagar have been nominated to modify 90 wagons that will be used for such RORO services.

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