Railways looking at diversifying Freight commodities

Railways looking at diversifying Freight commodities

New Delhi:  The Railways is considering foraying into hauling 17 extra commodities, including sugar, milk, agricultural products and laterite, in a bid to further diversify its kitty of freight commodities.

The move comes at a time when the national transporter’s market share in freight movement has nosedived to 33%, from about 90% in the 1950s.

The Railways has time and again been criticized for relying excessively on the transport of five bulk commodities for revenue generation as it persistently loses traffic to roads.

Presently, coal, iron ore, steel, cement and fertilizers account for about 95% of the overall freight volume handled by rail.

Milk is among the commodities that the Railways want a larger share of, for which it plans to introduce wagons with increased capacity. The wagons currently in use are capable of hauling 40,000 litres.

A senior Railway official said that “Milk production in the country has risen; also, we have lost a lot of long-distance traffic related to agri products and sugar. Now, we are looking to tap into these commodities.”