In what comes as a crucial achievement towards bolstering connectivity with Gujarat Ports, Indian Railways’ DFC (Dedicated Freight Corridor) project successfully completed its first double stack container train run between Mundra port in Gujarat to CONCOR(Container Corporation of India) Multi Modal Logistics park (MMLP) at Kathuwas in Rajasthan.
The double stack container freight train with a total tonnage of 2480 ton from Mundra Port arrived at New Palanpur station of the DFC on Sunday morning.
With an approx. 1,00,000 Sq. Mtrs of concrete block paving dedicated for rail handling and container stacking, MMLP, Kathuwas is deemed to be the largest multi modal park that is spread over around 283 acres of land serving container Port Terminals of JNPT, Mundra, Pipavav, Hazira, other ports and all terminals of CONCOR spread across the length and breadth of the country.
In addition to that, it is primed to serve as a major container trans-shipment hub for the ICDs of the Northern Belt.
By being connected to the smaller nodes via road and rail in a Hub and spoke model, it is envisaged to promote a holistic development of the road and rail network.
Also, the MMLP will serve a catchment area of approximately 150-200 Kms. radius which includes South West Haryana specially, Gurgaon, Manesar, Rewari and Northern Rajasthan with focus on Bhiwadi and Alwar.
The rake comprised of 178 containers with 5 destined for New Kathuwas in Rajasthan (NCR), 78 for Dhandari Kalan railway station in Ludhiana, Punjab, 90 for Dadri (NCR) in Uttar Pradesh and 5 for Panitola Railway station in Dangar Chuk Assam respectively.
The major commodities coming as imports are glycerine, softwood pulp, base paper, aluminium scrap, spare parts, electric parts, machine, compressor, spray parts, knitting machine, polyester fabric. The origin of the major containers are France, Mexico, Italy, Japan, Germany, United Arab Emirates.
The linkage provides a much needed access to the northern hinterland of India through the Western Dedicated Freight Corridor.
A senior DFCC official shared that with this successful trial, the Indian Railways has heralded a new era of transportation that would decongest the existing railway network.
