(a) whether the Railways are considering to build private freight terminal and grant licence to private sector to run train for transportation of some special commodities;
(b) if so, the details thereof;
(c) the names of the companies which have shown their interest in it;
(d) the details of the terms and conditions for granting of licence; and
(e) the revenues likely to be earned by the Railways from this annually?
MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS (SHRI K.H. MUNIYAPPA)
(a) & (b): Yes, Madam. A new scheme namely Private Freight Terminal (PFT) has been
launched on 31-05-2010 to facilitate rapid development of a network of freight terminals
on private land with private investment, to handle third party traffic.
Special Freight Train Operator (SFTO) Scheme has been launched on 31-05-2010 to
attract private investment in special purpose wagons. Private operators registered under
the scheme will operate private trains for transportation of specific commodities listed
under the scheme. Another scheme namely Automobile Freight Train Operator Scheme (AFTO)
has been launched on 19-07-2010 to attract private investment in high capacity auto
carriers in order to increase the low rail share of automobile traffic.
(c): A number of companies have expressed their interest but no formal application has
been received so far.
(d): For the purpose of granting license under the PFT Scheme, the applicant entity/
company should be registered in India under Companies Act with a networth of Rs. 10 crore
or annual turnover of Rs. 20 crore and having one year experience in logistics service or
is an existing container train operator or end user of railways with a private siding or
any industry intending to set up a private siding cum PFT. In order to ensure timely
completion of PFT, a security deposit of Rs. 1 crore will be deposited by the applicant.
In case of new projects only, the applicant under PFT will have to deposit Rs. 1 crore as
application fee.
For the purpose of granting license under the SFTO/AFTO Scheme, the applicant company
should be registered in India under Companies Act with a networth of Rs. 50 crore or an annual
turnover of Rs.75 crore for SFTO scheme or a networth of Rs. 20 crore or an annual turnover of
Rs.30 crore for AFTO scheme and having atleast one year experience in transport and logistics
or port and terminal operations or warehousing or container train operations or manufacturing
or as a wagon leasing company. The applicant will have to pay a one time registration fee of
Rs. 20 crore for transportation of bulk Chemicals, Petrochemicals, bulk Alumina and Steel
products requiring specially designed wagons, of Rs. 15 crore for transportation of bulk
Fertilizers, bulk Cement and Fly ash and Rs. 5 crore for transportation of Molasses, Edible
oil, Caustic soda or Automobiles.
(e): Since the implementation of these schemes is at initial stage and no formal proposal
has been received, the annual revenue likely to be earned by the Railways can not be assessed
at this stage.