Indian Railways is planning to adopt the ‘Time Guarantee Delivery’ model in the Freight segment. According to sources, Indian Railways will provide a time-bound delivery of the material and commodity, and if there is a delay, Railway will pay compensation.
Sources added that Union Minister of Railways Piyush Goyal has asked his team to take the idea forward as this Freight Delivery, a time-bound assurance, will not only help shift the players towards the national transporter but will, in turn, help boost the Freight revenues as well.
Indian Railways will provide a fixed time-frame for the delivery of commodities, sources said, failing which the Railways may give compensation based on every hour or every four-hour method.
Initially, the Railway plans to implement the Model on the limited sector and gradually take it forward, as the Dedicated Freight Corridor (DFC) completes by 2021.
For instance, any freight that is to be delivered between Mumbai and Delhi is supposed to take a maximum of three days or 72 hours. If not delivered in 72 hours, Indian Railways will pay compensation for every late hour.
Benefits:
Companies ranging from steel, coal, iron ore, and cement can always turn back to railways as the preferred mode of transportation
Railway eyes to target and attract new avenues like E-commerce, the auto sector, and the pharma sector as well with the new model.
Confidence behind Time Guarantee Delivery Model
In the last one month, the Indian Railways has been able to double the average speed of Freight trains to 46kmph from 23kmph last year.
Railways has been able to massively take forward the infra-development, which includes doubling and tripling or rail line, electrification as well.
Ambitious Targets
Railways has set an ambitious target for itself for the next four years to take the revenues and freight loading to new heights.
Railways has planned to increase cargo handling by 33% by 2024
Railway has set a target of increasing the cargo loading from 1200 million tonnes (MTs) in 2020 to 1600 MTs in 2024.