Mr Sanjay Sethi, IAS, Chairman, Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT), met Mr Vinod Kumar Yadav, Chairman, Railway Board, along with key officials of the Railways and DFCCIL at JNPT to discuss the ongoing rail projects at the port. The meeting stressed on key avenues for mutual support and opportunities for growth of the rail share. A brief presentation was also given on JNPT’s overall operations and infrastructure developments, especially the new technological advancements implemented to improve the efficiency and quality of business at the port.
During the course of the meeting, the JNPT Chairman highlighted the increase in rail traffic and the significant decrease in the dwell time of import containers moved by rail. For the period April 2018 to March 2019, the dwell time improved from 116.09 hours to 66.16 hours. The major initiatives undertaken, like simplification of processes, digitisation and the new ITRHO Agreement have helped in increasing the overall rail share at JNPT, it was pointed out.
Last year, JNPT, along with the private port terminals (DP World, APM Terminals and PSA), in coordination with CONCOR, reached out to the trade at Ludhiana, where the commencement of a weekly dedicated train from Ludhiana to JN Port every Saturday was announced as per the suggestion of the trade, said a release.
JNPT today serves more than 50 ICD locations all over the country. Additionally, there are rail movements to 3 CFSs which have rail connectivity. The JNPT-DFCC loading yard is currently under construction and will be ready by June 2021.
The dedicated freight corridor (DFC) is expected to be a game-changer by providing a route only for freight, thereby facilitating an economical, faster and more reliable option to move goods between JNPT and the northern hinterland. Upgrading of transportation technology, increase in productivity and reduction in unit transportation cost are also the focus areas of the DFC project.
Mr Sethi and Mr Yadav have agreed to form a committee of officials from Central Railway, DFCCIL, CONCOR and JNPT to fast-track the ongoing railway projects at the port.
