The Railway Board is in the process of finalising a model bidding documentfor the purpose. This would be part of a new freight policy to be announcedin the Railway Budget for 2000-2001.

The terminals would be a public facility to be used by railway customers forvalue-added services like warehousing, loading and unloading. The terminaloperators would be required to offer a wide range of services includingfreight aggregation and logistic support.

At present, the railways accept only bulk freight traffic but with thesetting up of these terminals piecemeal cargo would also be booked by theoperators.

Construction of such a terminal with all the infrastructure could costanything between Rs 25-30 crore.

One such terminal is already coming up in Garhi Harsaru, near Gurgaon, onthe Delhi-Jaipur railway line. It is being build by the Chennai-basedContinental Warehousing Corporation Ltd (CWCL).

As per the draft bidding document, the railways would pay a commission tothe operators on the business generated. The amount of commission would bebased on what is being paid by the port railways. At present, the railwayspay Rs 12 per tonne to the port railways as commission.

The commission would be in the form of handling charges. A user would paythe railways freight charges out of which the railways will pay the terminaloperator. The railways have already received offers from the public sectorCentral Warehousing Corporation and Continental Warehousing Corporation Ltd.In case, the terminal comes up on railway land, the railways would take partthrough equity participation. This would entitle the railways to a minimumamount which would be payable after one or two years of operation.

The railways would be following a two-stage bidding process, comprisingtechnical and financial bidding, for selection of companies. Technical bidswould be evaluated on the basis of lowest commission.

The entire process for setting up private terminals with total logisticsolutions is likely to begin only in the next financial year. Issues likeownership of the land and terminals are still to be decided. A formalannouncement would be made in the Railway Budget for 2000-2001.

The railways are adopting a cautious approach for the exercise sinceofficials apprehend that the private sector response might not be tooenthusiastic to begin with.

The Railway Board has also drawn up action plan for upgrading existingterminals through private sector participation.

According to officials, the existing terminals are in urgent need for highrise platforms and covered sheds.

Private Railway Cargo Terminals