Rlys plans concessions for truckers on dedicated freight corridors

Move aimed at capturing modal freight share from national highways

The ministry of railways is likely to offer a slew of concessions to truck operators on dedicated freight corridors (DFCs) in a bid to capture the modal freight share from national highways, Business Standard has learnt.

Sources in the ministry said 25-30 per cent relief in the existing roll-on, roll-off (RoRo) charges may be in the offing, along with higher concessions on traffic captured for empty wagons.

The railway board and Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation (DFCC) have been deliberating on the issue after the latter said that existing RoRo rates were too high for truckers to make the shift from roadways to railways.

The railways currently has a 27 per cent share in national logistics, which has been consistently falling over the previous decades. Under the National Rail Plan, the ministry plans to have a 45 per cent share in national logistics, with close to 3,000 million tonnes of yearly freight volumes (currently 1,418 mt). For this, the national transporter needs to rapidly capture finished goods and industrial traffic, which predominantly is ferried via roads.

In RoRo, trucks, with or without goods, are loaded on trains through a ramp provided at the dead-end of a loop on BRN wagons (specialised open wagons built solely for transportation of trucks). Before loading, the trucks are weighed and passed under a height gauge to ensure that they conform to the regulations for safe passage.

“While the segment is new for us, there is significant demand for RoRo services from the private sector, because the truck operator saves money on three counts through this mode — fuel cost, highway toll, and wear and tear of the vehicle. Currently, the traffic on RoRo is minimal because the present rates aren’t feasible,” a DFCC official told Business Standard.

RoRo solves last-mile connectivity woes in many finished goods by reducing scope of damage and delays during shifting of goods from one transport to another. Presently, these services are operational on DFCC tracks and Konkan Railways.

The ministry had notified charges for the RoRo segment on DFCs in July 2022. Under the present charges, a 500-km trip for a wagon with a rigid body vehicle (or truck) would cost the truck operator Rs 33,556. A full train of these specialised BRN wagons would have 43 wagons.

In the following months, DFCC had sought special dispensation from the board to set its own station-to-station (STS) rates, which was disallowed by railways citing technical reasons. On February 21, the board issued a letter to DFCC that fresh rates may be worked out on a case-to-case basis depending upon the assured traffic, cost of running the rakes, investment in terminals, and modifications required in rakes.

The ministry official quoted above said after eight months, these deliberations were likely to see closure soon.

The ministry believes that RoRo on DFCs could be a game changer for the current logistics landscape in the country, with the corridors providing an average speed of close to 55 kms per hour (kmph), which is over thrice the current average off regular Indian Railway tracks (18 kmph), including yarding and stabling.