Freight trains to run on time schedule soon; to offer normal freight rates

The Railways will soon introduce time-scheduled freight trains as promised by railway minister Suresh Prabhu in his railway budget. These trains will soon start plying on containerised routes, reports quoting railway ministry sources said.

These freight trains, however, will not be levying any extra freight charges for running time-tabled services, reports quoted multiple sources as saying.

This was one of the promises made by railway minister Suresh Prabhu in the Railway Budget.

Container train operators (CTOs) have been demanding trains with assured transit time for many years now. A few years ago, the Railways had launched premium freight trains with assured transit time on certain routes but the higher freight charges failed to attract customers.

The new scheduled cargo trains will not be charging any extra rates for containerised cargo, the source said.

Railways plans to start such services in the Tughlakabad-Bengaluru route, which will move containers on the domestic segment and on the JN Port-Chennai route to move boxes on the export import segment.

A fixed transit time between two points will help exporters as there would be less deviation in usual journey time taken by trains, while a similar offer in an export-import route will help create a land bridge between the two ports, helping them to serve the shipping lines as well.

The move will allow container train operators like Container Corporation of India (Concor), Gateway Rail Freight Ltd, APL IndiaLinx, Hind Terminals, serve their customers better.