Railways may hike haulage charges only once a year

The days of frequent changes in haulage charges in the freight segment of the Railways may soon be over.

In a significant decision, the Railway ministry is believed to have decided to increase haulage charges only once a year "" at the Budget time.

Railway ministry sources said the model concession agreement which was being prepared for the container train operators in the new privatised regime might contain a clause which could guarantee that the Railways will increase haulage charges only once a year. The agreement will be cleared by the railway board shortly.

"We have circulated the draft model concession agreement among the container train operators. And we believe that the agreement is much more liberal than the terms at which we used to do business with Concor," said another railway official refusing to divulge specifics.

The 14 container train operators, including the state-owned Concor, who recently entered the market, have protested at various forums against the ministry's practice of jacking up haulage charges too frequently.

The operators said that they were unsure about their margin in the freight business due to increase in charges every now and then.

The railways had also refused to give any kind of guarantees to the private operators regarding the time within which freight booked by a particular operator would be taken to its destination.

Sources say another key demand of the private operators that they should not be charged for maintenance of rakes too had been accommodated in the model concession agreement.

The ministry has discussed these provisions with the private operators. The private operators have also suggested that the haulage charges be revised every year during the budget.

Earlier this year, there was an uproar when hours after announcing a reduction of haulage charges on the Jaipur- Pipavav route, the ministry brought in an across- the -board hike in charges for all commodities.