The railways are likely to continue to follow the mantra of ?increasing volumes and decreasing unit costs? in the upcoming Railway Budget as well. Railway minister Lalu Prasad is expected to announce the use of higher axle load wagons of 25 tonne for transporting more types of commodities.
According to government sources, railways are already carrying a large amount of its iron ore, steel and petroleum products on 25-tonne axle load trains. Such higher axle load trains will now also be used for transporting other bulk commodities such as cement and coal.
However, this will be done only on select routes, which have been upgraded to carry higher loads. For instance, the Banspani-Daitari route in Orissa has been upgraded and now can carry up to 30 tonne wagons, the sources pointed out, adding that there are several other such routes.
In Railway Budget 2007-08, Prasad had announced his decision to begin running 22.9-tonne axle load trains on several routes and 25-tonne axle load trains on select routes. The ministry plans to migrate completely to 25-tonne axle load trains and routes, in preparation of the dedicated freight corridor.
The move however is aimed mainly at increasing its freight traffic.
?Higher axle load trains are the way forward as we can carry more freight on the same train,? a Rail Bhawan official pointed out. Railways have set a target of carrying 785 million tonne (mt) of freight loading for this fiscal. It hopes to increase it to 1,100 mt in the next five years.