In a bid to improve its revenue through freight, Indian Railways has directed all zonal rail networks to allocate two days in a week and a specific time period for freight trains to operate. According to a press release, Railway Minister Piyush Goyal has been closely following up on the implementation of the Freight Convoy Initiative which would help in improving mobility of rakes required for coal loading and other commodities.
For the Freight Convoy Initiative, a detailed planning of loads, locomotives and crews is being done to maximize throughput during the coaching free corridors. Senior officers have been deputed at the control offices to monitor the planning, ordering and running of freight trains in the convoy. Traffic inspectors and loco inspectors have also been designated to foot-plate in the locomotives of the freight trains to ensure no time loss takes place in the clearance of block sections.
The inventive way of running freight traffic has been successfully implemented on Korba-Bilaspur-Anupur-New Katni-Agasod/Bina-Jhansi-Kota routes, Ghaziabad-Allahabad-Pt. Deen Dayal Upadyaya Junction routes and Bilaspur-Jharsuguda-Rourkela sections. The convoy system was also tried on the Asansol-Jhajha-Barauni section (251.65 kms) on 3rd/4th November, 2018 which was successful.
Western Railways has planned dedicated time slots for freight trains so as to streamline the movement of goods and facilitate the improvement of revenue and throughput. According to officials quoted in an HT report, different railway sections will have separate blocks where only freight trains are allowed to operate. The Western Railway has prepared a proposal for the movement of goods trains between Ahmedabad and Palanpur railway stations in Gujarat. On this section, only freight trains will run between 1:35 pm to 5:35 pm on Sundays. He added that as a result of this dedicated convoy movement, eight outstation trains would be cancelled during the time frame.