Sunday, April 06, 2008

Railways to publish Vision 2025 Document

Railways to publish Vision 2025 documenthttp://news.webindia123.com/news/ar_showdetails.asp?id=804030679&cat=&n_date=20080403Kolkata Thursday, Apr 3 2008The Railway Ministry is considering to publish a ''Railway Vision2025 Document'' within the next six months, which will outline itsstrategies for the future.The document will set forth the target for the coming 17 years in thefield of operation perfomance and quality of service, a publishedreport quoted Railway Minister Lalu Prasad as saying.The document will also detail an action plan for achieving thestipulated targets and necesary investment plans.It will contain details of customer-centric modern passenger servicesand various freight schemes to sharpen the competitive edge of therailways.This will have a blueprint of an organsiation that encourages trans-departmental decsion making to take the railwas to unprecedentedheights. Route-wise planning would be done to reduce trafficbottlenecks, expand the network and modernise the rilways.''The passenger services will be governed by the two words- comfortand convenience'' and the buzzword in freight business will be ''commitment and connectivity'', the report added.=============

Private Container Service from Bangalore to Kochi

Hind Terminals to start pvt train service to Kochi portthehindubusinessline.com/2008/04/04/stories/2008040450160700.htm

Samsara Group may start service from Bangalore in MayKochi, April 3 Kochi port will soon receive the first privatecontainer train service to its container terminal operated by IndiaGateway Terminal when Hind Terminals, part of Samsara Group,commences its service from Bangalore in May.Discussions between the company and DP World, which operates thecontainer terminal here, are in progress and it was proposed to starta weekly service with one rake carrying 90 TEUs to Kochi.Sources in the shipping circle said here that Hind Terminals is oneof the 16 private train operators in the country and it is alsoplanning to start a similar service between Bangalore and Tuticorinshortly. It had already started a Delhi-Nava Sheva service.With the commencement of the train service to Kochi, the sourcespointed out that there is a possibility to attract more cargo fromBangalore as well as from ports in the South. This will also addtremendous value once the Vallarpadam Terminal becomes operational.The sources also mentioned that Concor had also agreed to start atrain service between Coimbatore and Kochi by August to cater to thegrowing business from the region.Volume growthThe volume of south Indian ports is growing considerably in therecent period and there is a need to look at more gateways other thanChennai for exports.According to sources, the south Indian ports had handled around 1.7million TEUs in 2007 and it is growing at 25 per cent on year on yearbasis.The throughput in 2008 is expected at 2.2 million TEUs and additionalcargoes had to find alternate gateways such as Kochi, Tuticorin andMangalore due to constraints at the Chennai port.Ideal gatewayConsidering this, the Kochi port with spare capacity could be anideal gateway for some of the hinterland cargo from Bangalore,Coimbatore and Salem. The container handling at Kochi had also grownconsiderably as the India Gateway Terminal had handled 25,494 TEUs inFebruary, which is the highest ever throughput achieved in the port.The share of Bangalore business to Kochi would also improveconsiderably in the coming days with the starting of the privatetrain service as there already exists a better connectivity betweenthe port and Bangalore after the Concor introduced its two trainservices per week, the sources added.Meanwhile, Shipping Corporation of India had started a new UAEservice from Kochi named SMILE (SCI Middle East India Liner ExpressService) and its first vessel Rajiv Gandhi anchored at the port with400 TEUs of cargo. The port of rotation of this service is Colombo-Kochi-Nava Sheva-Jebel Ali on a weekly basis. The advantage for theUAE shippers is that they would get three sailings to the UAE in aweek.==========