There has been an 83% jump in the number of new cars transported by the railways from the factories of companies such as Maruti Suzuki and Hyundai to consumers in various cities and towns across the country during April-August this year compared to the same five-month period of 2021.
Data released by the Railway Ministry on Monday shows that while 1,314 trains (rakes) were run with newly manufactured cars from the factory gates to consumption centres in April-August in 2021 the number of such rakes shot up to 2,406 trains in the same period during 2022.
This is a welcome trend as Railways, being a cleaner mode of transportation, not only helps automobile industry to quickly transport bulk volumes over long distances, but also gives an opportunity to reduce their carbon footprint.
More traffic shifting to railways also reduces congestion on highways resulting in fewer accidents.
“Automobile traffic over Indian Railways has witnessed a tremendous growth during the recent past. This growth in automobile traffic has been the result of various initiatives viz. availability of specialized privately owned wagons,” according to an official statement.
On the basis of the issues raised by the stakeholders in the automobile industry, including Society for Indian Automobiles Manufacturers (SIAM), the Automobile Freight Train Operator (AFTO) policy has been liberalized from time to time. It allows automobile manufacturers to own their wagons specialized for their needs.
To facilitate loading and unloading of automobiles, design-modification to the existing NMG wagons is also under execution based on the suggestions received from investors and logistics providers.
Also, for increasing short lead traffic, freight rate has been revised for NMG/BCCNR and BCACM wagons up to 1200 km. More terminals are being opened up for automobile traffic as per demands of the industry, the statement added.
Presently, Indian Railway has a fleet of 90 NMG rakes. In addition, 43 BCACBM rakes have been inducted by approved Train Operators under AFTO scheme.
