Railways Pushed for Zone-Wise Freight Plan, Crew Shortage

New Delhi, Aug 11 (PTI) A Parliamentary Standing Committee has again suggested that the Railway Ministry share zone-wise plans for enhancing freight traffic, particularly in regions with limited mineral movement and industrial activity.

The Committee, in its ninth report tabled in Parliament on August 10, said it had earlier asked the Railways to formulate and implement zone-specific strategies to enhance freight traffic, particularly in regions with limited mineral movement and industrial activity.

The report appreciated various efforts being made to augment network capacity through multitracking, the operationalisation of Dedicated Freight Corridors and modernisation of yards, among others.

"The Ministry in their action taken replies have asserted that periodic data-driven assessments are carried out with inputs from Zonal Railways, Divisional Railways and Business Development Units to facilitate policy interventions, freight rate rationalisation and incentive schemes, wherever considered necessary," the report said.

It added, "While appreciating these initiatives, the Committee desire that the Railways institutionalise a structured annual review of freight rates, supported by comprehensive analysis of commodity-wise demand, market competition, logistics costs and operational expenditure."

The Committee noted that the Railways give significant priority to coal transportation by ensuring the availability of rakes and wagons and also appreciated the facilitation of private investment under the Private Wagon Investment Scheme.

It asked whether the framework introduced through the National Coal Logistics Plan and Policy shall also be applied to modernise India's coal transportation through an interconnected, multimodal network.

"The Committee may also be apprised of the status of the Public Private Partnership (PPP) policy for Rail Connectivity and Capacity Augmentation as introduced in 2012 which is being revised," it added.


The committee said it had made 12 observations in its sixth report and recommendations on 'Increasing Freight Related Earnings of Indian Railways and Development of Dedicated Freight Corridors'.

The Railway Ministry furnished Action Taken Notes on all the observations and recommendations, based on which the Committee made further comments in its 9th report.

Informing the Committee about the increase in the average number of freight trains per day, the Ministry said the number had gone up from 4,968 trains in 2021-22 to 6,789 in 2024-25.

"Indian Railways is undertaking capacity augmentation of existing feeder routes through infrastructure strengthening and operational improvements to ensure seamless movement of freight between major industrial hubs and the DFC network," the Ministry said, while addressing the Committee's concern regarding the scope to improve the average speed of freight trains from 37 kmph in 2024-25.

Emphasising the shortage of crew, the Committee wanted the issue to be urgently resolved to minimise delays, improve throughput and ensure uninterrupted freight movement across the DFC network.

"Accordingly, the Committee urge Indian Railways to take necessary and effective measures to ensure the availability of adequate crew required for the smooth operation of trains on the DFC Network," one of its recommendations said.

In its action taken, the Railway Ministry said that a total of 28,769 vacancies of Assistant Loco Pilot (ALP) and 6560 vacancies of Goods Train Manager have been notified in 2024 and 2025.

"A substantial number of ALPs have already been selected against 18,799 vacancies advertised in 2024. The shortage of crew should be addressed substantially because of the above measures," the Ministry said.