Question : Transportation of e-Commerce Packages

(a) whether Indian Railways has partnered with Amazon India for a pilot programme to carry out inter-city transport of e-commerce packages, if so, the details thereof along with routes identified for this purpose;
(b) the targeted amount to be collected by Railways on this account;
(c) whether the Government has also plans to enter into partnership with e-commerce firms for transport of e-commerce packages and if so, the details thereof;
(d) the targeted amount to be earned by Railways during this fiscal through freight and passenger travel;
(e) whether the Government has taken steps to achieve the target and if so, the details thereof; and
(f) the other steps taken by the Government to enhance freight and passenger travel earning of Railways?

MINISTER OF RAILWAYS AND COMMERCE & INDUSTRY
(SHRI PIYUSH GOYAL)

(a) to (f) A Statement is laid on the Table of the House.
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STATEMENT REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PARTS (a) TO (f) OF UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 480 BY SHRI DHANUSH M. KUMAR, SHRI REBATI TRIPURA, SHRI SELVAM G. AND SHRIMATI SANDHYA RAY TO BE ANSWERED IN LOK SABHA ON 20.11.2019 REGARDING TRANSPORTATION OF E-COMMERCE PACKAGES

(a) to (c) Yes, Sir. A pilot project was launched to study the feasibility of using Railways’ parcel service for e-tail players under which Amazon India has been provided 2.5 tonnes space in the SLR/Break Van under Guard’s charge for loading/unloading of consignments, in 12314/12313 New Delhi-Sealdah Rajdhani Express and 12952/12951 New Delhi-Mumbai Rajdhani Express trains. Detailed guidelines will be formulated based on the outcome of the Pilot Project.

(d) The amount targeted to be earned by Railways during the financial year (2019-20) through freight and passenger travel are `1,43,000 crore and ` 56,000 crore respectively.

(e) and (f) Indian Railways continuously strives to improve passenger as well as freight traffic and earnings over its network.

Some of the initiatives taken to improve passenger traffic and earnings are augmentation of on-board capacity, rationalisation of Flexi fare scheme, extension of Alternate Train Accommodation VIKALP scheme, increase in number of RAC berths to provide additional accommodation, etc.

Similarly, various schemes have been introduced to increase earnings from freight business, such as Liberalised Automatic Freight Rebate scheme for traffic loaded in empty flow direction, Long Term Tariff Contracts (LTTC) with key freight customers, Station to Station rates (STS), de-notification of large number of commodities to bring them under FAK rates, etc.

Also, to enhance the freight performance of Indian Railways, steps such as increasing the axle load and length of freight train, use of extensive computerization, deployment of higher capacity wagons and locomotives, improvement in track and signaling, etc are being taken.
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