E-commerce Mogul Amazon India will soon transport its goods by Mumbai local suburban trains of the Central Railways (CR) zone.
Amazon parcels until now were only transported by road, but with this move, Amazon parcels can now be seen in the luggage compartment of local trains, in order to get them to the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (CSMT) station from Kalyan, according to an IE report.
According to senior officials of the Central Railway zone, about seven tonnes worth of the parcels will be allowed to be ferried through different trips of the local train every day, out of which not more than 1.3 tonnes can be carried in a single trip.
This will be done on a pilot basis to ensure that the transition plays out seamlessly.
It is reported that Amazon will take recourse to bigger parcels than the smaller ones as per directions of the Zone in order to make it more convenient to load during the three-minute halt time at the Kalyan station. This exact model has already been in practice at the Sealdah division of the Eastern Railway (ER) zone.
The CR zone has been given an annual target of Rs 82 crore, while the Mumbai division has been given a target of Rs 65 crore, of which approximately, a sum of Rs 50 crore has been met so far.
There are a total of three vendor coaches in the trains, but the consignment will be allowed only in the middle compartment during the non-peak hours. Usually, Amazon loads its consignment at Dadar or Lokmanya Tilak Terminus (LTT) stations and depending on the train’s halting time, ferries them to the CSMT station, in order to load in parcel wagons by getting it on the road. But with this move will now power Amazon to send the parcels through trains.
For seamless delivery, Amazon India has also set up a pickup kiosk at four stations, namely, CSMT, Dadar, Thane and Kalyan stations, where a customer can choose one of these kiosks as a pickup point for their products. These kiosks will be in operation between 8 AM to 8 PM.
This move has been brought about under the non-fare revenue (NFR) scheme, where the Railway Ministry seeks to generate revenue from sources other than ticket sales.
