States may kill Railway logistics parks

Lack of co-operation from most of the states may hinder the Railways’ plan to set up logistics parks along the dedicated freight corridor (DFC) and the Delhi-Mumbai industrial corridor.

Most states through which the freight corridor is passing have not finalised sites and land for the multi-modal logistics parks.
“The Railways has asked the states to finalise the location and land at the earliest,” said an official close to the development.
Only Haryana’s government has inked a pact with the Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation of India (DFCCIL) to develop a multi-modal park at Rewari in the state.

In states such as Maharashtra, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Delhi and West Bengal there has been no final word on land or location, despite DFCCIL securing an approval to initiate feasibility studies at Ahmedabad, Navi Mumbai and Kanpur.

In February last year, the Railways mooted the idea of bringing together the respective state governments and major logistics companies to set up multi-modal parks.

After receiving 39 responses to an expression of interest floated by the Railways, the ministry wrote to the nine states through which the DFC is passing, to create a common format to develop the parks, apart from finalising land.

Meanwhile, a final survey has been completed on the western corridor (1,483 kms between Jawaharlal Nehru Port, Mumbai, and New Delhi) and the Ludhiana-Sonnagar stretch of the eastern corridor (1,806 kms between Ludhiana and Dankuni in West Bengal.

The Railways has issued a notification for acquisition of 2,400 kms of land. In addition, the ministry has awarded the first construction contract for the 105 km stretch on the eastern corridor. Also, construction contracts for 54 major bridges have been awarded on the western corridor.

Executing the plans outlined in the Vision 2020 document, the Railways has completed the pre-feasibility study on the north-south, east-west, east-south and southern corridors. The ministry is looking into aspects such as project costs and traffic projections of these corridors.