TIRUCHY: Southern Railway (SR) will add a parcel coach to 11 long-distance trains in a bid to boost freight revenue.
“A long-distance train usually has 24 coaches. Out of these, two are guard vans. A portion of the guard vans is used to carry parcels. So, parcels are often cleared on the basis of space available in guard vans. An additional coach would increase parcel handling capacity of these trains,” an official said.
Railways, sources said, will lease the parcel coaches to private players. “We would select private players through bidding. Successful bidders can then use the coaches. This would increase freight revenue and help private courier operators in the country,” said sources.
SR has selected trains like the Grand Trunk Express (Train No: 12615, From Chennai Central to New Delhi), Tamil Nadu Express (Train No: 12621, Chennai Central to New Delhi ), Navajivan Express (Train No: 12656, From Chennai Central to Ahmedabad), Howrah Mail (Train 12840, Chennai to Kolkata), Coromandel Express (Train No: 12842, Chennai Central to Kolkata) Shalimar Express (Train No 22826, Chennai to Shalimar), Howrah Express (Train No: 12664 Tiruchirappalli to Howrah Junction) and a few other trains for this initiative.
Railway Minister Piyush Goyal in an unstarred reply in Parliament addressed to MP Pratima Mondal recently confirmed the plan of leasing out these parcel coaches. Goyal in his response to Mondal also said Railways is expecting revenue of Rs 645.22 crore in the 2018-19 financial year through this leasing policy.
According to sources, instructions have been given to commercial officers in Chennai, Thiruvananthapuram, Palakkad, Tiruchy, and Madurai to give publicity to the decision.
“We have selected trains to Delhi, Kolkata, Ahmedabad and other major destinations for this initiative. Of the 11 selected trains, six start from Chennai and one from Tiruchy. We are sure we would get a good response to this initiative,” a source said. Sources said SR would attach the additional parcel coach to the selected trains by January.