(a) whether the Railways is planning to take any measures to improve freight market share in the country;
(b) if so, the freight earnings of Railways during 2020-21;
(c) whether the Railways has any data regarding number of kilometers per wagon per day; and
(d) if so, the details thereof?
MINISTER OF RAILWAYS, COMMUNICATIONS AND
ELECTRONICS & INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
(SHRI ASHWINI VAISHNAW)
(a) to (d) A Statement is laid on the Table of the House.
STATEMENT REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PARTS (a) TO (d) OF UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 544 BY SHRI RITESH PANDEY TO BE ANSWERED IN LOK SABHA ON 01.12.2021 REGARDING IMPROVEMENT IN FREIGHT MARKET
(a) Indian Railways has taken various steps to increase the freight market share, such as withdrawal of Busy Season Charge, Concession in long lead traffic & Short lead traffic, 25% concession on movement of empty container & empty flat wagon, 5% discount on movement of loaded container, proliferation of Roll-on Roll-off (RORO) services, de-notification of large number of commodities for charging at Freight All Kind (FAK) rates, Roundtrip charges on ultra short (upto 50 KM) lead container traffic with further delegation for lead upto 250km to Zonal Railways, 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), discount on loading of bagged consignment in open and flat wagons.
Use of extensive computerization in freight operations to improve monitoring and to improve utilization of assets, deployment of higher capacity locomotives and higher capacity wagons, improvement in maintenance practices of wagons and locomotives resulting in increased availability of rolling stock for traffic, improvement in track and signaling to carry the higher volume of traffic, training staff and officers to adopt the new technology and management practices.
Two Dedicated Freight Corridors (Western & Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridors) have been taken up to create adequate capacity, which is essential requirement to cater to the traffic demand and improve quality of service.
Indian Railways has also introduced some schemes, which involve private investment for improving freight share of Railways in the country such as General Purpose Wagon Investment Scheme (GPWIS) for procurement of general purpose wagons by private parties, Liberalized Special Freight Train Operator Scheme for procurement of Special Purpose/High Capacity Wagons, Automobile freight Train Operator Scheme for investment in Automobile carrier wagons, Policy on Private sidings, Policy on Private freight Terminals, Policy on development of Goods sheds at small roadside stations through private investment etc.
The above schemes have been well received by the stakeholders. Interactions are held with the stakeholders/investors on regular basis and based on the suggestions/ demands raised by them, appropriate changes are made in the investment policies from time to time to make them more suitable for market conditions, and thus improve freight share of Railways.
(b) The freight earnings of Railways during 2020-21 is ? 1,17,231.82 Cr.
(c) Yes, Sir.
(d) Wagon Kilometers per wagon per day on line (in terms of 8 wheelers) for the Year 2019-20 is 188.7 Kms.
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