First private freight train from Gujarat flagged off

Ahmedabad, June 6 (UNI) Hind Terminals, a subsidiary of Samsara Group and Sharaf Group UAE, flagged off Gujarat's first private freight train today from Sabarmati Inland Container Depot to Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT) in Mumbai.

The train was flagged off by Container Corporation of India (Concor) Managing Director Rakesh Meherotra.

''This is an ideal example of State-Private partnership, where the state infrastructure is managed by private management expertise to provide the best for the customers,'' Mr Meherotra said while speaking on the occasion.

Samsara Group president Mukesh Oza said, ''This freight train will provide an ideal transport solution to the Gujarat trade and industry. It is yet another step towards our endeavour to provide complete logistic solutions to our clients and our trains will strive to ensure minimal transport delays.'' Hind Terminals owns and operates four rakes at present and would add ten more rakes in the next six months time. The freight train will run from Sabarmati in Gujarat to JNPT every four days, he added.

It has a category 1 licence and is one of the fourth licence holders to start operations after Parliament approved a proposal in 2005 to privatise rail freight services, which were hitherto the monopoly of the government-owned Concor.

UNI