Heralding a new era in container trains services, Railways on Thursday permitted private players to run container trains for, both, import and export and domestic traffic.
"We have decided to permit the private parties to run container trains for both import and export and domestic traffic," Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav told reporters in New Delhi.
Announcing the new container policy he said this permission can be given to all companies / firms / individuals registered in India with an annual turnover or net worth of Rs 100 crore (Rs 1 billion) or more.
The railway minister said containerised import-export traffic in India is growing at a rate of 15-to-20 per cent per annum and over the next five years it was expected to increase from the current 55 million tonne to 110 million tonne.
In the vast country like India, he said there are possibilities of significant development in domestic container traffic also. Presently, Railways has a one-third share in the local domestic traffic of about 2,000 million tonne.
Giving details about the new container policy, the minister said an applicant should either have a rail-linked ICD or within a period of six months of making his application give an assurance that he will construct his own rail-linked ICD (in three years) or he will arrange to furnish a lease agreement with an existing rail-linked ICD owner.
Accordingly, he said the rail routes connected with the ports have been grouped together in four categories, with the exception of Delhi-Mumbai route.
Applicants for other routes will have to pay a registration fee of Rs 10 crore (Rs 100 million) and will also be allowed to domestic container trains all over India except Delhi-Mumbai route, the railway minister said.
The applicants for Delhi-Mumbai route will be permitted to operate EXIM container trains on the other three categories also and domestic traffic all over India paying a registration fee of Rs 50 crore (Rs 500 million), Prasad said.
He said the permission to operate container trains will be valid for a period of 20 years, which will be extendable by another 10 years subject to satisfactory working by the applicant.
The process of registration and the policy of container train movement will be uniformly applicable to all applicants, including CONCOR, he said, adding: "All companies will be given a level-playing field without any discrimination."
In the operation of container trains, he said the principle of 'first-cum-first-served' (pahle aao, pahle pao) will be followed.
While Railways will provide engines and drivers, the applicant will have to provide bogies and procure its own rolling stock required for the movement of container trains, the minister said.
The Railways, he said may also consider allowing use of its surplus lands for the construction of ICD and multi-modal logistic parks.
In the first quarter of the coming financial year, 2006-07 the minister said the Railways will make all possible efforts to introduce double stack container trains to reduce the unit cost of operations and enable container traffic to be moved at more competitive rates.
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