The Chennai division of Southern Railway will start a leased Parcel Cargo Express Train (PCET) service on a round-trip basis from Saturday evening. The service from Royapuram in Chennai to Guwahati in Assam will carry cloth bales, two-wheeler spares, car tyres, fans and chocolates, among others.
The freight charges per round trip is ₹22 lakh for 15 parcel vans of 24-tonne capacity. The anticipated minimum revenue from this business development initiative will be ₹46 crore during the contract period of six years, says a release from Southern Railway.
The parcel cargo train will reach its destination in 62 hours, covering a distance of 2,716 km, originating twice a month from Royapuram (day 1) at 20:30 hrs and reaching Guwahati (day 4) at 13:30 hrs. In the return direction, the service will leave Guwahati (day 1) at 23:55 hrs and reach Royapuram (day 4) at 14:00 hrs.
After six months, the number of parcel vans would be increased to 20, till completion of a six-year contract period.
The service will attract piecemeal traffic benefitting traders, businessmen and industrial units, thus, enabling a wider market for their products in the North-Eastern states, the release said.