Lok Sabha Question No. 2665 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2021-03-10
Subject: Freight Transportation
Ministry: RAILWAYS
Asked by: Rajan Baburao  Vichare, Riti Pathak

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 2665 TO BE ANSWERED ON 10.03.2021

## FREIGHT TRANSPORTATION

2665.     SHRI RAJAN VICHARE: SHRIMATI  RITI PATHAK:

Will the Minister of RAILWAYS be pleased to state:

- (a)    whether  the  Railways  is  working  on  formulating  any  scheme  to promote freight transportation operations;
- (b)  if so, the details thereof;
- (c)  the annual consumption of power by the Railways;
- (d)  the number of people who have been provided employment till date under the 'Garib Kalyan Rojgar Abhiyan' by the Railways, State-wise; and
- (e)    the  details  of  the  number  of  posts  lying  vacant  as  on  date  in Railways  along  with  the  number  of  posts  on  which  recruitment process is ongoing?

## ANSWER

MINISTER OF RAILWAYS, COMMERCE & INDUSTRY AND CONSUMER AFFAIRS, FOOD & PUBLIC DISTRIBUTION (SHRI PIYUSH GOYAL)

(a) to (e)  A Statement is laid on the Table of the House.

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STATEMENT  REFERRED  TO  IN  REPLY  TO  PARTS  (a)  TO  (e)  OF UNSTARRED  QUESTION  NO.  2665  BY    SHRI  RAJAN  VICHARE  AND SHRIMATI  RITI  PATHAK  TO  BE  ANSWERED  IN  LOK  SABHA  ON

10.03.2021 REGARDING FREIGHT TRANSPORTATION.

- (a) & (b)  To  promote  freight  transportation  operations,  the  following major schemes have been formulated:
- i. Schemes  providing  freight  incentives:      Automatic  Freight Rebate Scheme for traffic loaded in Traditional Empty Flow Direction (TEFD); Long Term Traffic Contract (LTTC); incentive  to  load  Fly  Ash;  concessions  for  Short-lead  and Long-lead traffic; non-levy of Terminal Charges at unloading point  of  notified  alternate  goods-sheds  and  Private  Freight Terminals (PFTs); Premium indent for freight customers; and withdrawal of Busy Season Charges from 01.10.2019.
- ii. Schemes  floated  to  attract  new  traffic  in  container  trains: Large  scale  de-notification  of  commodities  for  container traffic and lower freight charges; 25% concession on haulage charge for empty containers till 30.04.2021; 5% concession on  haulage  charges  for  loaded  containers  till  30.04.2021; 50% terminal access charge for containers handled at GroupIII container rail terminals; round trip base charging for ultra short lead (up to 50 Kms) till 30.04.2021; introduction of cube container  for  two  wheeler  automobile  traffic;  and  stabling charges for containers withdrawn till 31.03.2021.
- iii. Modification in transportation product:   Minimum number of wagons for availing trainload benefit for BCNHL reduced from 57  wagons  to  42;  train  load  benefit  for  mini  rake  of  20 wagons  provided  for  booking  of  parcel  size  traffic;  and supplementary  charges  of  5%  for  mini  rake  and  two  point rakes modified into graded form.

Contd…2/-

- iv. Schemes to promote ease of doing business:    Registration of demand for wagons electronically; Electronic transmission of  Railway  Receipt;  Electronic  payment  system  for  freight charges; development of Freight Business Development Portal  for  uploading  applications  by  customers  for  stacking permission/diversion/rebooking/short  of  destination  delivery/ waiver of demurrage and wharfage/ station to station rates, etc.
- v. Schemes to promote private investment in wagons:   In order to  promote  loading  of  bulk  commodities  in  special  purpose wagons  schemes  like Liberalized Special Freight Train Operator  Scheme  and  Automobile  Freight  Train  Operator Schemes  have  been  introduced.  For  dedicated  loading  in General Purpose wagons, the General Purpose Wagon Investment Scheme has been introduced.
- vi. A new policy on programming of iron-ore traffic i.e. iron-ore policy has been formulated.
4. (c) Annual  consumption  of  Electricity  during  2019-2020  was  about 20.75 Billion units.
5. (d) 'The Garib Kalyan Rozgar Abhiyan' was announced on 20.06.2020 for  125  days  i.e.  up  to  22.10.2020.  Indian  Railways  generated 14,14,604 man-days in six selected states :

| S. No.         | State          | No. of Man-days generated   |
|----------------|----------------|-----------------------------|
| 1.             | 3,95,527       | Bihar                       |
| 2.             | 20,572         | Jharkhand                   |
| 3.             | 2,05,415       | Madhya Pradesh              |
| 4.             | 84,190         | Odisha                      |
| 5.             | 1,96,521       | Rajasthan                   |
| 6.             | 5,12,379       | Uttar Pradesh               |
| Total Man-days | Total Man-days | Total Man-days              |

- (e) The details of ongoing Recruitment process on three Centralized Employment Notifications (CENs) released by Railway Recruitment Boards (RRBs) are as follows:

|   S. No. | Centralized Employment Notifications (CEN)                                      |   Number of Vacancy |
|----------|---------------------------------------------------------------------------------|---------------------|
|        1 | 03/2019 Isolated & Ministerial categories                                       |                1663 |
|        2 | 01/2019 Non Technical Popular Categories (NTPC) Graduate & Under Graduate level |               35281 |
|        3 | RRC - 01/2019 Level-1 (erstwhile Group 'D')                                     |              103769 |

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