Railways need to focus on growth of parcel business important for small traders and businessmen – Piyush Goyal

Immediate steps need to be taken to increase the production of LHB Parcel Vans, and to introduce e-Payment and Digital Payment facilities

Minister for Railways Piyush Goyal conducted a review of Parcel business which was attended by the Members of Board, officials of Railway Board and CRIS.

Goyal appreciated the efforts done by the Railways especially regarding running of Kisan Rail trains, and stated that growth of Parcel business is very important as these services are used by small traders and businessmen.

Making these Parcel services more customer friendly will give direct benefit to this segment. He emphasised that Railways shall aim for steep growth in Parcel business, and more efforts and innovative ideas are required to bring the desired growth.

He directed that immediate steps shall be taken to increase the production of LHB Parcel Vans, and introduce e-Payment and Digital Payment facilities. Goyal also directed that adequate steps must to taken to facilitate movement of traffic from North-eastern region and hill states, and also to attract export traffic going towards ports. He stated that Parcel Special trains must be run on time so that customers gain confidence for using these services.

During the last few months, Indian Railways has brought in several initiatives to attract more business towards its Parcel services. Some of them include, running of Kisan Rail trains to facilitate movement of farm and agri-produce, grant of discounts on sectors where Parcel Vans and Parcel trains are returning empty, grant of discount on loading of 24 Parcel Vans in a single train, opening of all goods-sheds, Private Freight Terminals and Private Sidings for Parcel traffic and starting Parcel train for export traffic to Bangladesh.

In addition to these initiatives, Indian Railways is also planning to develop dedicated Parcel Terminals to make handling of Parcel consignments easier for the parties, and Sangola (Central Railway), Kacheguda (South Central Railway), Coimbatore (Southern Railway), and Kankariya (Western Railway) have already been identified for development as a pilot project.