The railways is planning a standardisation of trains in terms of number of coaches so that all trains can run on all routes, Railway Minister Piyush Goyal said.

Soon, all trains in the Indian Railway network would have 22 coaches, making them suitable for running on any route, irrespective of the time taken by each to complete the journey, he added.

“All trains will have 22 coaches, the length of the platforms will be increased and other related changes will be carried out. The engineering department is looking into it,” Goyal told reporters.

Currently, coaches are of two kinds — ICF and LHB — and the number of coaches in a train could be 12, 16, 18, 22 or 26, depending on its demand, making it difficult for the railways to substitute one with the other, particularly in case of a delay.

“If the number of coaches is the same in every train, we can press any train — which is ready, has arrived at the station and undergone maintenance — into operation, instead of waiting for the same train to get ready,” a senior railway official explained.

He added that the railways had identified over 300 groups of trains and their routes in the first phase. The changes in the number of trains operating on a route and their timings will reflect in the new timetable, to be published in July.

“The advantage of having standard trains — all of the same composition — for example, the same number of general, sleeper and air-conditioned coaches, is that they can run on any route.

“In the first phase, we have segregated over 300 groups of trains and identified routes on which they can be run — mostly mainline, busy routes,” the official said.

He added that for a successful implementation of the plan, the railways would also have to standardise its infrastructure — the length of the platforms, filling and washing lines etc.

China will invest 732 billion yuan ($113 billion) this year to expand its railway by 4,000 kilometers so that by 2025 the country will boast a 175,000-kilometer network.

China Railway, the nation’s state-owned railway company, said that 3,500 km of the new network are high-speed railway. The network will cover most of the cities by 2025, of which high-speed railway will total 38,000 kilometers, the national railway operator said yesterday.

Although the budget is below last year’s investment of 801 billion yuan, China is still expected to lead the world in developing a modern railway network by 2035, the operator said.

By the end of last year, China had 127,000 km of railway lines, including 25,000 km of high-speed rail — 66.3 percent of the world’s total by length.

The operator said that 60 percent of the railway will be double-track — which helps ensure safety and enhance efficiency by running one track in each direction instead of making trains in both directions share the same track — and 70 percent of the network will be electrified by 2020.

China now leads the world by proportion of electrified railway and is No. 2 by the number of double-track rails, according to peoplerail.com, the official railway news portal.

In 2017, a total of 3.04 billion passenger trips were made on railways, an increase of 9.6 percent year on year. More than 56 percent of those trips were made on high-speed railways.

China’s high-speed rail tracks will hit 38,000 km by 2025, up from present 25,000 km.

Tripura government sent a proposal to Indian Railways to utilize its surplus power for running the trains to reduce the dependency on non-renewable conventional sources of energy being used for the purpose.

While addressing a gathering of Tripura State Electricity Corporation Ltd (TSECL) last evening, Chief Minister Manik Sarkar indicated that train engines have been rolling mostly by using diesel and coal as sources of energy, which is increasing the emission of green house gases in the atmosphere and polluting the environment. As India is committed to comply with global green house gas reduction agreement, it has become necessary for every citizen of the country to lead a carbon neutral life style and to reduce the emission of gases causing damage to environment, Mr Sarkar attributed.

“Since Tripura is generating more electricity than it’s domestic requirement, we propose to utilize it as source of energy to run the trains to and from Agartala to other destinations of Northeast. The region has enough potential to generate more power from natural resources,” Mr Sarkar apprised.

He said Tripura has been generating about 800 MW power per day and another 125 MW is getting share from other states. At present the state is selling 160 MW power to neighboring Bangladesh and about 220 MW power is being used for domestic purposes.

Similarly, most of the states in northeast are also having their surplus generation of power. “Northeast is considered as clean hub of the country and it could be further enhanced if we reduce the burning of fossil fuel.

Tripura is marching ahead with CNG driven vehicles, pipeline cooking gas and clean power generation by using natural gas,” he pointed out.

Indian Railways has set a target of December 2018 to link all its locomotives via ISRO satellites, making it easy to track trains and communicate with their crew in real time, officials said.

By year-end, all 10,800 locos of the railways will have antennas fixed on them and they will be monitored inside the driver’s cabin, senior officials of the national transporter said.

“We have already tried it on 10 locos and by December 2018 we will have this system installed in all our locos,” a senior railway board member said.
Officials said trials for this system have been done on the New Delhi-Guwahati and New Delhi-Mumbai Rajdhani routes on six electric locomotives.

The railways is also working with the Indian Space Research Organisation to use its satellite-based system to check accidents at unmanned railway crossings and track train movements.

Working on a pilot project with ISRO, the railways has installed space agency-developed integrated circuit (IC) chips on some train engines. The Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (or NaVIC) will be used to warn road users of approaching trains through hooters installed at unmanned road crossings.

MUMBAI: With the pharmacists’ representatives from across the country starting an agitation recently in New Delhi demanding implementation of Pharmacy Practice Regulations, the issue of implementation of PPR has once again come into focus. The agitators led by pharmacist activist Vinay Kumar Bharti are seeking a direction from the central government to state governments to implement PPR and Drugs and Cosmetics Act to curb the malpractices prevailing in the lakhs of drug stores and thereby enhancing the status and practice of pharmacy profession in the country.

He mentioned that the Indian Railways having a number of medical facilities across the country has also adopted it successfully. The Apex body in Health Directorate is headed by the Director General Railway Health Services at Railway Board, New Delhi. At Zonal level, there are 16 Zonal Railways and each Zonal Railway is headed by one Chief Medical Director (CMD) with Chief Health Directors in some Zones and 2 to 3 Deputy Chief Medical Directors assisted by few Group ‘B’ officers. The Divisional level is headed by Chief Medical Superintendents. In some places Sr. Medical Superintendents are working as in-charge. There are total 125 Railway Hospitals and additionally 133 Private recognised Hospitals are available.

The pharmacy profession at present is regulated by two statutes namely the Pharmacy Act and the D&C Act. In a first serious attempt to bring some comprehensive changes to the outdated provisions in these laws and rules governing the pharmacy practice, the government notified the PPR in January 2015 for enhancing the practice of pharmacy profession in the country. The intention of PPR 2015 was to lay down a uniform code of pharmacy ethics, responsibilities of pharmacists towards patients, role of a community pharmacist, etc. One of the key provisions in the PPR is to empower the state pharmacy councils to appoint pharmacy inspectors in all the districts of every state in the country. As per the provisions of PPR, pharmacy inspectors are authorized to inspect the retail medicine outlets for checking whether medicines are dispensed by a qualified pharmacist or unqualified persons. Currently, drug inspectors of the state drug control departments are conducting such inspections at the retail outlets. PPR also prescribe a dress code of white apron with a badge having name, qualification and registration number for pharmacists. There are various other provisions in PPR framed with the intention of uplifting the status of the pharmacy profession.

But, it is a sad commentary that these regulations have so far remained on paper only. Even after almost three years since the PPR was notified, only Kerala and Haryana have implemented it so far and Karnataka has taken some steps to implement it.

Ever since the notification, the pharmacists have been demanding the implementation of PPR in their respective states but nothing has been done so far in this regard. As per PPR, no owner/registered pharmacist can deny inspection of their premises by pharmacy inspectors appointed by state pharmacy council under section 26A of the Pharmacy Act 1948.  The pharmacy inspectors are responsible to ensure implementation of section 42 of the Act which says only registered pharmacists are permitted to dispense the medicines on prescription of registered medical practitioners.  The PPR further says apart from dispensing drugs and maintaining record of drugs given to patients, pharmacists should also offer services like patient counseling and adverse drug reporting. Unfortunately, a significant number of retail stores in the country are being operated by non-pharmacists who rent pharmacy diplomas and degrees from graduates in this discipline. According to reports, one can get a pharmacy certificate in states such as Bihar, UP, Chhatisgarh, Jharkhand, Punjab, Rajasthan, Haryana, Telangana, etc for annual fees ranging Rs 15,000 to Rs 70,000. As per the D&C Act, retail stores cannot dispense drugs in absence of a registered pharmacist. It is highly unethical for a registered pharmacist to lend his registration to any other person. He/she can function only at one place at a time. But non-pharmacists continue to operate medical shops with rented certificates of pharmacists. It is high time all the state governments enforced the PPR in letter and spirit to ensure due respect and recognition to the pharmacist community.

Commuters in Mumbai have felt the impact of the Maharashtra bandh called for by Dalit activists. The extent of the impact though varies from location to location. Bharipa Bahujan Mahasangh leader Prakash Ambedkar called off Maharashtra bandh after a day of unrest at 4pm on Wednesday. This is the update at 5pm.

As many as 170 local train services were cancelled and 1,020 were delayed following ‘rail roko’ protests in different parts of the city as part of the protests by Dalit groups Wednesday.

As protesters gathered and blocked railway tracks at various stations, such as Palghar, Virar, Nalasopara, Dahisar, Malad, Goregaon, Andheri, Mahim, Dadar and Elphinstone Road along the Western Railway, as many as 60 services were cancelled and more than 200 trains were running late from 8 am to 4.30 pm.

“However, efforts were made to provide local trains at regular intervals of every 5 to 10 minutes during peak hours and throughout the day,” read a statement issued by the Western Railway.

As the protests picked up by afternoon, services of the newly-launched AC local were also discontinued owing to safety concerns. “Four services of air-conditioned local train, scheduled in the morning hours were operated as per the time table but afterwards looking to the crucial situation and to ensure safety of newly introduced AC local train as well as of commuters, the rake of AC local train was withdrawn in Mumbai Central Carshed and remaining eight services of this train were cancelled,” the release stated.

There was joint deployment of police, Government Railway Police (GRP) and Railway Protection Force (RPF) on suburban and main lines. “Preventive arrests/ detention were made by GRP/Police with assistance of RPF while removing protesters from the station premises/ track. GRP is registering cases under the Bombay Police Act and provision of IPC… RPF has registered 13 cases under Railway Act of nuisance, obstructing train running against unknown persons in mob of protesters. The offenders will be identified by RPF on the basis of videography of protests and CCTV footage,” added the release.

Meanwhile, 110 suburban services were cancelled on the central line and the remaining 820 trains were delayed by about 20-25 minutes. However, 30 special services were run through the day. Services were disrupted intermittently at Thane, Diwa, Titwala, Vasind and Ghatkopar stations and all obstructions were cleared only by 4 pm.

Meanwhile, both up and down services on the harbour line were also disrupted in the morning due to an agitation at Govandi. According to officials, the services were disrupted 12 times through the day at various stations and 13 cases were registered by the RPF, three of which were filed for the agitation at Goregaon station.

The officials faced a tough time convincing protesters to get off the tracks. “We will conduct an inquiry and check the CCTV footage. There has also been a lot of damage to the railway property during the protests,” said Anup Shukla, Divisional Security Commissioner, RPF, WR.

The station master at Mulund railway station said the last down local that left from Mulund was at 11.30 am after which the next train came at 3 pm.

“The fast down line was operating on the central line as it did not halt at Kanjurmarg where protesters had taken to the tracks. However, soon, there were limited trains on the fast line as well. By 3 pm, however, the Central Railway started limping back to normalcy on both up and down directions,” said the station master. Railway platforms across the central line were choc-a-bloc with commuters who had no other option but to wait for the next train as protesters had blocked various roads too.

A senior GRP officer said they followed a three-pronged strategy while dealing with the protesters. “Some of them told us that they just wanted to be on the tracks for 5-10 minutes, click photos and leave. In some cases, we reasoned with the protesters to get off the tracks since they were causing problems to students going for their exams and people who were in emergency situations. In the extreme cases, we threatened them of lathi-charge and told them we would arrest them if they did not get off the tracks,” he added.

The official said the central line was the worst hit. “There were protesters who had blocked the railway lines at Ghatkopar and Kanjurmarg. At Kanjurmarg railway station, they also threw the steel benches on the railway lines. We are in the process of identifying those who damaged public property after which FIRs will be registered,” he said.

Pallavi Lokhande, who was travelling from Kandivali to Churchgate, said, “Since these protesters are disrupting rail services, there isn’t much that the Railways can do to prevent it. But they could at least keep the commuters informed. There was a long disruption at Goregaon station but there was no announcement… When they knew there was a disruption ahead, they should have warned us and we would not have taken the train. So many commuters got down onto the tracks and walked back to the station.”

Suresh Kumar, a Goregaon resident, said, “I was expected to report to work today in Andheri. But when I reached the station, I saw the protesters and returned home out of fear.”

1. Central Railway: After smooth functioning of trains on Central, Western and Harbour Lines this morning, activists staged a rail roko at Thane station for close to ten minutes at 7:45am. Services resumed soon after. There were protests at Diwa, Titwala and Vasind railway stations also that led to delay in services. The suburban train services on Central Railway, Mumbai Division’s Main line and Transharbour line are running uninterrupted except for few minutes. Railway staff, RPF and GRP officials are deployed on the station to clear the path and train services have now resumed unhindered. Due to this agitation, central railway trains are running 10-20 minutes. Personnel are on the job to streamline services on Central Railway suburban services.

2. Harbour Line: Services on the Harbour line were hit post 11:20am. Reports suggest that protesters have staged a rail roko at Govandi station leading to disruption of train services on the harbour line. The service resumed at 11:40am. The Dahanu local scheduled to leave at 11:18am was stopped at Virar. Juinagar and Nerul stations have also reported some disruptions.Harbour line paths cleared and services restored.

3. Western Railway: Similar protests and disruptions were reported from Virar, Goregaon, Andheri, Elphinstone Road station on the western line. Trains are delayed by over 20 minutes as a result. Large number of protestors occupied the railway tracks at Nallasopara Station from about 9.55 hrs, disrupting rail traffic. Administration and Security Forces deployed to normalise the train operations. Railway tracks were evacuated and train operations resumed at Nallasopara/Virar from 10.30 hrs. Some protesters also disrupted dispatch and reception of suburban trains at Virar. Tracks were evacuated of protesters and train operations resumed at Virar and Goregaon from 9.05 hrs on WR suburban.

After four trips of AC local in the morning, remaining eight services of AC local suspended for the day in view of protests. AC local rake is withdrawn in BCT carshed. Other suburban services are being run amid intermittent protests at Elphinstone Rd, Goregaon, Andheri, Dadar, Malad. There is no cancellation of long distance trains.

By 5pm, local train services resumed on WR and CR section in Mumbai. Western Railway: Suburban and Long Distance services are running on all lines. Efforts being made to provide local trains at regular interval/every 10 mins during evening peak hours. Administration and Security Forces on alert and monitoring the situation. WR is geared up to run all services during evening peak hours as per regular time table for commuters to safely reach their destinations. Addl Security Staff deployed at stations. All lines are working. We wish safe journey to our commuters.

4. Central Railway: All paths clear on Central Railway. Services are being normalised. No need to panic… we are committed to ensure smooth operations of trains.

5. Goregaon : From 12.05 to 12..15 hrs traffic disrupted on Goregaon station. Disruption expected at Malad and security arrangements are there. In fact, 2000-3000 protesters are moving from Andheri to Goregaon in city area and they are again and again expected to move on railway track. Goregaon Up Local Line stopped from 13.38 hrs.

Bhayandar up local line train stopped from 13.58 hrs to 14.16 hrs, Goregaon DN local line stopped from 14.03 hrs to 14.20 hrs, DN through line train Bhayandar stopped 14.11 hrs Palghar protest began at 13.50 hrs blocking up and DN main line. Trains detained at various stations A) 93016 AT PLG, B) 93018 AT BOR, C) 22956 AT VGN.

6. Dadar: DN local Borivali stopped at 12.50 hrs started at 13.18 hrs, UP local Andheri – Churchgate stopped at 12.40 hrs started at 13.16 hrs.

7. Mahim Junction: DN Harbour wadala stopped outside Mahim at 13.08 hrs and started at 13.12 hours. Malad: DN local Borivali stopped from 12.44 to 12.52 hrs.

8. Mumbai Metro: At 11:30am services on the Mumbai Metro were also impacted. Services between Ghatkopar and Airport were impacted. By 5pm, Metro services from Versova to Ghatkopar resumed to normal.

9. BEST Buses, Thane Municipal Transport buses: 48 BEST Buses damaged due to stone pelting. Rasta roko at Bandra Kalanagar, Dharavi Kumbharwada, Kamraj Nagar, Santoshnagar Dindoshi, Hanuman Nagar Kandivali due to which road traffic affected. Police is deployed on railway station and on roads to control the situation.

10. Kalanagar Junction, Bandra: Commuters are advised to avoid Kalanagar and MMRDA Junction for some time due to Rasta roko. Rasta roko at kalanagar junction, Bandra, Dahisar, Akurli bridge, Kandivli, Panvel, Ghatkopar, Sakinaka road near Jagruti Nagar metro station.

11. Traffic situation in Western Suburbs: Agitations and morchas are observed on the streets due to which there is diversions, areas effected include Akurli bridge (Kandivali), Charkop (Kandivali West), Borivali, Dindoshi near santosh nagar, Kamraj nagar (Vikroli), Kherwadi jun. (BKC) at sai prasad hotel, MIDC near Vijay nagar (Jogeshwari), Arunkumar Vaidya Marg (Dindoshi), Kumbharwada Jun (Mahim), Oshiwara. Stone pelting incidents on JVLR near Powai on private cars.

12. Traffic situation in Central suburbs: In thane west, Thane Municipal Transport buses and autos are being shut by dalit activists. Only State Transport buses are playing. All shops except medical shops are shut. Young girls are also participating in enforcing the bandh. They stop autos plying with passengers and requested them to stop. Close to 500 protesters organised a bike rally in Thane. There are traffic diversions in Ghakopar, Thane, Kanjurmarg, Bhandup, Chembur, Mulund and Sion.

13. Autorickshaws, taxis, app-based cabs: Regular commuters found the roads relatively empty this morning and twitter was abuzz with discussions on how many made it to office in record time. Trains also saw fewer commuters compared to most days during rush hour. But many auto-rickshaw drivers were apprehensive of venturing long distances. Taxis too were cautious given the scale of damage witnessed yesterday with respect to autos and BEST buses. Many commuters took to twitter to complain about non-availability of app-based cabs as well as surge pricing.

14. Airport: Passengers are advised to report well in time for the flights keeping in mind possible hold-ups and roadblocks along the way.
Domestic carriers, including the government-owned Air India, have waived charges for ticket cancellations and no-show due to the ongoing unrest in parts of Maharashtra. Air India said it will not charge any fee for cancellation of tickets or rescheduling of a journey to/from Mumbai on January 2 and 3. Air India has decided to waive ticket cancellation/ rescheduling charges for its flights to and from Mumbai for today and tomorrow, a senior airline official said.

Bharipa Bahujan Mahasangh (BBM) leader Prakash Ambedkar has called for a `Maharashtra bandh’ to protest the state government’s “failure” to stop the violence at Bhima Koregaon village in Pune district. The event to mark 200th anniversary of the Bhima Koregaon battle in Pune district, in which forces of the East India Company defeated Peshwa’s army, was marred by incidents of violence in which one person was killed.

Lesser number of trains are running in late than flights due to fog this year because of constant efforts for computerisation of the signalling system, Railway Minister Piyush Goyal said today.

“Due to our constant efforts, less trains were running in late in comparison to flight during fogs,” he claimed during Question Hour in the Lok Sabha.

Mr Goyal said that a committee has been set up to review the flexi-fare system and recommend best options, keeping in mind the interests of passengers and the railways.

The minister said the railways have given highest priority on safety and highlighted the public transporter’s focus on computerisation of the signalling system, which continues to run through the old system started before independence.

Mr Goyal said the ultimate solution to the railways’ problems was capital investment, which has been highest in the last last three years.

“Rs. 1,20,000 crore will be invested this year and the amount will be more next year. Our aim is to make a new Indian Railways by 2022 and works are going on in this regard,” he said.

The Indian Railways has set a target to triple its freight traffic to 3 billion tonne by 2030, Railway Minister Piyush Goyal said today. He said the railways was looking to come out with a “reciprocation” strategy on bidding for major projects.

Under the strategy, companies from only those countries which allow Indian firms to bid for their development projects would be allowed to participate in similar projects in India, Goyal said.

“As we are taking steps to become a $10 trillion economy, we want to increase the share of railways freight traffic to 3 billion tonne from the current 1.1 billion tonne,” the minister told reporters here.

Goyal also said that the plan was to increase the railways’ share in the overall goods movement to 50 per cent from the current share of around 35 per cent. Senior officials said that railways has completed a record 476-km track renewal in the month of December. It expects to touch 3,500-km of track renewal in 2017-18, they said.

The trial run of the Noida-Greater Noida Metro commenced today with Delhi Metro Rail Corporation Managing Director Mangu Singh flagging off the ambitious project to link the twin cities by rail.

Singh flagged off the trial run after a brief ritual ceremony here which was attended by Chief Executive Officer and Noida Metro Rail Corporation Managing Director Alok Tandon besides other DMRC officials.

Initially the metro will run between Greater Noida Depot to Knowledge Park 2 metro station, a stretch of around 6 km, after tests and clearance, according to an official release.

The total length of this metro link is 29.07 km and is called the Noida-Greater Noida Metro Rail corridor. It has 21 metro stations, with Noida Sector 71 in Noida and Delta Depot Station in Greater Noida being the two terminus stations, the release stated.

The Rolling Stock of this corridor is being procured from CRRC Limited, a state-owned Chinese manufacturer. DMRC had signed the MoU on behalf of Noida Metro Rail Corporation (NMRC) Ltd with CRRC Corporation Limited in March 2016. The Standard Gauge trains are being manufactured in the Nanjing Plant.

The Standard Gauge trains are being manufactured in the Nanjing Plant. The train with 4 coaches had arrived in Greater Noida on 14th December 2017. Basic movement trials and validations were done over the last fortnight.

The train has been designed with ‘Aqua Blue’ as its theme colour. Each train will comprise four coaches with a total seating capacity of 186 passengers. Total passenger capacity of the train (Seating + Standing) is approximately 1,000 passengers under loaded conditions.

The corridor will have a total of 19 train sets (i.e, 76 coaches). The trains are expected to arrive every fortnight, according to the release.

Each train has two driving trailer cars and two motor cars and the total number of seats in both are 43 and 50, respectively. Each coach has ports for mobile and USB charging, 6 backlit LCDs (Liquid Crystal Displays) and 4 Dynamic Route Maps.

Dedicated space has been provided for wheel chair based commuters in Driving Trailer cars at both the ends of the trains, it added.

The Civil Work of this 29.7-km-long standard gauge corridor having 21 stations was completed in November 2017 with the erection of the last girder. Track laying and system works are in progress.

During the test run, the train will undergo rigorous signaling testing. During testing and the trial runs, the interface of the Metro train will be checked to ensure that there is no physical infringement with civil infrastructure during the movement of the train on the track and also testing of various subsystems of coaches shall be done.

Noida and Greater Noida Authorities have decided to have their own Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV), jointly funded by authorities of the two cities, in the name of NMRC.

After the trial run and technical clearance, the Metro service will be inaugurated and opened to public. Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath is expected to inaugurate it, the release said.

The purpose of NMRC is to facilitate mass transit and other urban transport in the twin cities, it said. “NMRC’s vision is to develop a world class metro with sustainable development. Its mission is to provide safe, reliable and eco friendly transportation services for people,” it added.

NMRC said it had started a city bus service last year and its fleet is connecting Metro stations in Noida, and also connecting it with various sectors in Greater Noida.

This metro corridor is constructed by the DMRC on a turnkey consultancy basis. For this a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the DMRC was signed in October 2014.

It said there is also a plan to implement ‘one city-one card’ as smart card for this metro corridor and feeder buses of NMRC.

This corridor will have green energy intitiative as 10 MW solar power generations is planned from solar panels installed on rooftops of Metro stations.

Rainwater harvesting provision will also be available at all stations and along the viaduct.

Beside this Metro corridor NMRC will develop two other metro corridors. One corridor is 14.95 km corridor between Noida Sector 71-72 to Greater Noida Knowledge Park V having 9 metro station. Other corridor to be developed by NMRC is 10.922 km from Okhla Birds Sanctuary to Sector 142 Noida having eight stations.

Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT) announced that work on its much-awaited fourth mega container terminal awarded to PSA International has been completed and that commercial operations will begin soon, paving the way for quicker turnaround of vessels and cargo at India’s busiest public container gateway.

PSA International has been preparing itself to give BMCT — touted as the single largest foreign direct investment in the Indian port sector — a head-start over peers in the region, with its efficiency seen as a key competitive differentiator in an increasingly competitive market. The company has put in place sophisticated supply chains to receive and deliver cargo, including four dedicated railway lines capable of handling 1.5-kilometer (0.9-mile) trains with a loading capacity of 360 TEU. Equally important, these rail-sidings conform to the requirements of Indian Railways’ under-construction Dedicated Freight Corridor (DFC) linking JNPT with northern hinterland points.

Other features include special train operation arrangements with Container Corporation of India (CONCOR) and a deal with domestic multi-modal logistics provider PNP Maritime Services to operate a regular container-on-barge service between JNPT and Dharamtar Port.

When fully operational, BMCT will have a 6,562-foot quay, a 494-acre storage yard, 24 quay cranes, and an annual capacity of 4.8 million TEU, doubling JNPT’s combined capacity to nearly 10 million TEU.

JNPT said in statement that “The development of the fourth container terminal reinforces JNPT’s position as the premier container port of India.”

Currently, JNPT encompasses a port-owned terminal, two facilities operated by DP World and one by APM Terminals. While the port has come a long way since the days of off-and-on labor flare-ups and gate closings in 2015 and early 2016, on the back of gate automation and other ease-of-doing-business measures, it needs to work harder to fend-off aggressive efforts by private rivals, especially Adani Group’s Mundra Port, to poach its business.

Industry sources told that Bharat Mumbai Container Terminals (BMCT) has already commenced partial operations and that several major carriers currently using other terminals in JNPT are expected to switch their weekly calls to the new terminal in the coming weeks, as full-fledged operations get under way.

The start of operations at the new treminal comes as JNPT battles serious capacity issues stemming from rapidly growing traffic: fiscal 2017 to 2018 throughput is expected to exceed the record 4.5 million TEU booked in fiscal 2016 to 2017 that ended in March.

BMCT, 1 of 200 projects outlined in India’s mammoth Sagar Mala port-led development program, has a 30-year operating concession, involving public-private investments worth INR 7,935 crore in two phases.

The first phase is estimated to have cost INR 4,719 crore, will provide two berths with a total quay of 1,000 meters (3,281 feet), a 90-hectare (222 acres) storage yard with 9,336 ground slots, 12 quay cranes, 4 rail-mounted gantry cranes, 36 rubber-tire gantry cranes, 324 reefer slots, and a capacity of 2.4 million TEU per year.

JNPT said in a statement that “The port and the Ministry of Shipping has provided all supporting infrastructure and assistance on a continuous basis for operationalization of the terminal, thus fulfilling the initiatives of the prestigious Sagar Mala initiatives and will also help cater to the growing demands and expectations of India’s growing exim [export-import] trade.”

JNPT Port expands its operation with Wardha and Jalna Dry Ports

JNPT will develop dry ports in the Jalna and Wardha region of Maharashtra. Both Wardha and Jalna dry port will be connected by dedicated freight rail corridor and expressway. Nitin Gadkari, Minister of Shipping has performed bhoomipoojan for Wardha dry port. These dry ports will cater effective logistics services to the industries in Vidarbha and Aurangabad region and improve cargo throughput at the Port.

The proposed Wardha Dry Port is to be constructed over an area of 350 acres in phased development with a total estimated investment of Rs 500 Crore. The Phase-I would involve the development of around 25 Ha of the total area, with an estimated cost of Rs.180 Crores (including private investment of Rs. 79 Crore).

The proposed Wardha dry port is estimated to generate traffic of almost 7,000-9,000 TEUs in next 5-7 years. The traffic is expected to ramp up gradually to around 30,000 TEUs in the medium term (by 2030) considering the geographical location advantage, upcoming road and railway connectivity, increased focus on warehousing and other ancillary industries in the region. The project is expected to attract a direct employment of at least 1000 persons. The project would have the necessary facilities as a one-stop shop for the EXIM based industries such as customs clearance facilities, Container Freight Station, Warehousing Space, Cold Storage, Liquid Storage, truck terminals etc.

The site is strategically located around the Industrial belt of Nagpur & Wardha and is well connected to the other industrial regions in Vidarbha. The dry port would benefit the rice exporters, textile and garments industry, steel and minerals traders, scrap trade, plastics, and paper pulp, electrical machinery, automotive parts manufacturers etc. located in the region. Besides, domestic cargo movement is also expected to be routed through the dry port due to its logistical proximity to upcoming Nagpur-Mumbai super communication expressway, National Highways and railway connectivity.  The dry port shall get connected to the Central Railways network through Nagpur-Wardha line, to Nagpur-Mumbai Super Communication expressway and six-lane National highways connecting major cities of central, Southern and Northern India.

The Jalna port will come up close to Aurangabad, with an annual capacity of 20,000 TEUs. It will be located near Aurangabad – Jalna state highways and close to proposed Mumbai – Nagpur Samruddhi Corridor. Jalna Dry port will cover 163 hectares of government land and 22 hectares of agricultural land. The port will have customs bonded area where all import and exports can be handled. In the warehousing area, facilities like cold storage would be beneficial for farmers to store export quality agricultural produce. Both, Wardha and Jalna dry ports will commence operations in 2019.