Railways set to get bulk parcel customers back

Private companies, which had turned away from leasing in parcel trains from the railways, are making a comeback.

Following an emphasis on revamping the parcel carrying business by the railways, companies like Gati are again showing interest in taking parcels trains on lease.

"We plan to increase the frequency of parcel trains on routes like Delhi-Chennai to make the business more lucrative," a railway ministry official said.At present, parcel trains for various destinations run once a week. The ministry plans to increase the frequency on certain routes to every alternate day.

Gati Corporation, a Hyderabad-based cargo carrying company, had tied up with the railway ministry in 2001 for an express cargo train between Kolkata and Mumbai. The company, however, withdrew from the partnership last year, when the ministry lowered its parcel rates for the open market in 2004.

"The business had become a loss-making proposition, as customers started making direct arrangements with the railways, which was a cheaper option," a Gati executive said.

Railway officials accepted that the Gati's move was prompted by the cut in parcel rates for certain categories last year, which made it uneconomical for the company to continue."The railways is willing to be more flexible to demands of private companies," the official said.

He said apart from Gati, that was interested in taking a whole train on lease, many more private companies were now showing interest in the leasing in the individual parcel van units.

"We are looking at various arrangements with the railways and negotiations are on," the Gati executive said.

The railways' parcel business has been incurring about Rs 700 crore loss a year. The department is making efforts to attract more customers to cut the losses.

To make in-roads into the courier business that prefer transportation by roads or air, the department has reserved special vans for couriers only. The courier companies will now be allowed to load and unload their consignments at the stations. At present, only end-to-end service is available.