November 6, 2020: According to a tweet by Railway Minister, Piyush Goyal, Indian Railways has started operations of auto handling terminals near Lucknow.
Piyush Goyal Tweeted,” Indian Railways starts operations of one more auto handling terminal. This one is in Bakshi ka Talab near Lucknow. Railways is attaining new heights in transportation of automobiles. The new terminal will further help in boosting automobile loading.”
Automobile loading has been facilitated at Railway Auto Handling Terminal with the further mentioned facilities. Hauling charges for BCACBM rakes have not been revised since May 2013. Freight for NMG is also low.
Export is also permitted. Two destination loading permit is required in NMG rakes. Traffic to Bangladesh and Nepal has been started with the help of Railways. 7 NewRailway Auto Handling Terminals have been opened. These include Chitpur (ER); Penukonda (SWR); Nasrala (NR); Nautanva (NER) for Nepal and Salchapara, Furkating, & New Tinsukia.
All Private siding can handle Automobile traffic. More Railway Auto Handling Terminals will be opened according to industry demand at Charodi (WR), Bakshi Ka Talab (NER), Mesra (ECR). Rakes of taller design for the automobile transport are being developed so as to double-stack dwarf containers.
Growth Expectations
According to the Railway Board, IR’s share for transporting small passenger vehicles has shot up from about 4.5% in FY18 to about 14% in July 2020 and this may increase to 20% by FY22 and 30% by FY24. Officials attribute the incipient trend of increase in use of railway rakes for transporting automobiles to “proactive approach” of Railways, increase in rolling stock and a sharp decline in transit time. However, the current spike could also be due to the relative easiness and safety that transportation by rail offers, given the Covid-19 protocol.
BDU meetings with Tata and other companies have been held. This way Maruti has also transported 1.78 lakh cars across the country using freight trains. Now even Hyundai has started to transport cars in the same manner. 5 Railway Auto Handling Terminal to 13 destination terminals including Nagpur have been set up.
Source: MOTOR OCTANE
