Source: https://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Madurai/railways-to-introduce-new-parcel-service-in-association-with-india-posts/article66282627.ece
Publisher: The Hindu
Indian Railways along with India Post is planning to introduce Rail Parcel Gati Shakti Express Cargo Service, which would provide doorstep pick up and delivery of parcels at a cheaper rate to benefit trade and industry.
At a preliminary meeting held here G. V. L. Satya Kumar, Executive Director, Strategies Planning and Implementation, Railway Board, said that parcel service by Indian Railways had many pitfalls like no doorstep pick up, rigid timings in bookings, damages, delay in transport, and difficulty in claims for damages.
Indian Railways along with India Post is planning to introduce Rail Parcel Gati Shakti Express Cargo Service, which would provide doorstep pick up and delivery of parcels at a cheaper rate to benefit trade and industry.
At a preliminary meeting held here G. V. L. Satya Kumar, Executive Director, Strategies Planning and Implementation, Railway Board, said that parcel service by Indian Railways had many pitfalls like no doorstep pick up, rigid timings in bookings, damages, delay in transport, and difficulty in claims for damages.
“However, under the new project we plan to do away with all the problems and provide end-to-end parcel service. India Posts would pick up the parcels at the doorstep of the customers. It would be transported through trains and again would be delivered at the doorstep of the addressee,” he said.
He said that the plan was to add modified parcel vans in trains of select routes and also introduce time-table parcel trains on select routes.
“Marketing teams from Ralways and India Posts are in the process of studying the market demand for transportation of commodities, their tonnage, frequency and orginating station and destination,” he added.
The traders of Surat, who were sending textiles to Varanasi, through parcel trains were offered cheaper freight charges, compared to trucks,” he said.
Traders, including president of Tamil Nadu Chamber of Commerce and Industry, N. Jagadeesan, raised queries over the freight charges, safety of the parcels and assured time of delivery.
The new services were planned to connect industrial and commercial hubs like Chennai, Madurai, Tiruppur, Salem, Dindigul, Coimbatore, Cochin and Palakkad. “After the study is completed, the services were likely to begin by January 2023,” he added.
Chief Commercial Manager, Freight Management, Southern Railway, R. Murugaraj, Post Master General, V.S. Jayasankar, Director Postal Services, A. Saravanan, and Senior Divisional Commercial Manager, R.P. Rathipriya, were present.
