Railways to ink deals with private players on container traffic

New Delhi, Jan 3 (UNI) Giving a concrete shape to its historic decision to privatise booming containerised railway traffic, the Railways will sign tomorrow the model concession agreement with 14 private players, signalling the end of the monopoly status of the state-owned Container Corporation of India (CONCOR).

The move carries the promise of a four-fold increase in traffic -- from 55 million tonnes to 110 million tonnes in the next five years -- or an additional Rs 12,000 crore in revenues for the sector over the next three years.

On January 5 last year, Railway Minister Lalu Prasad had thrown open railway container business to private players, allowing companies and individuals to run container trains for both import-export and domestic operations in a competitive environment.

As part of the policy, permission to run container trains has been given to all private players registered in India and having a turnover or net worth of Rs 100 crore or more.

Fourteen operators have so far applied for licences, out of which one operator -- Pipavav Rail Corporation Ltd -- has already been awarded the licence to operate container train. In the process, the Railways have collected Rs 140 crore from them as registration fees.

Among the applicants for licences, Delhi Assam Roadways Corporation Ltd is the first player from the road transport sector.

The other operators include Gateway Distri Parks Ltd, Hind Terminals Pvt Ltd, Mundra International Container Terminal, India Infrastructure&Leasing, Mumbai, Adani Logistics, Dinesh International/Emirates (ETA), J M Baxi, SICAL Logistics, Chennai, Central Warehousing Corporation; Bothra Shipping and Reliance Infrastructure Engineering, Mumbai.

The permission will be first given for a period of 20 years, extendable by another 10 years, subject to satisfactory performance of the company.

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