VISHAKAPATNAM: South Coast Railway (SCoR) has diverted imported wood pulp traffic from road to rail, with the first rake loaded at Kakinada Port for Bhigwan in Maharashtra on Saturday.
The 1,061-km traffic, which has been transported by road from Kakinada to paper industries in Maharashtra for the past 15 years, is expected to generate around 1.5 lakh tonnes of additional rail loading annually and freight revenue of about Rs 20 crore.
The first BOST rake carrying imported wood pulp was loaded at Kakinada and is headed to Bhigwan.
Each rake is expected to generate around Rs 40 lakh in freight revenue.
The move followed discussions between South Coast Railway and industry representatives on the feasibility of shifting the traffic to rail.
It was found that the actual loadability of wood pulp was around 45-50 tonnes per wagon, while the railway’s existing charging structure was based on 65.1 tonnes per wagon, making rail transport less competitive than road.