(Image source from: toiimg.com)

Indian Railways will provide a time-bound delivery of materials or commodities and if there is a delay the Railways will pay compensation.

In yet another remarkable announcement after privatization, Indian Railways is contemplating adopting a pizza delivery type of model in its freight segment. According to sources, Indian Railways will provide a time-bound delivery of goods i.e., materials or commodities and if it delays the process, it will be ready to pay the compensation.

The sources added that Union Minister of Railways Piyush Goyal has asked his team to take the idea forward as this time-bound assurance of freight delivery will not only help the players shift towards the national transporter but will also help boost the freight revenue.

Indian railways will provide a fixed time frame for the delivery of commodities failing which Railways will give compensation based on every hour or every four-hour method.

Initially, the Railways is planning to implement the model on the limited sectors and gradually take it forward as the Dedicated Freight Corridor completes by 2021.

The pizza delivery type model works this way for the Indian railways:

For instance, any freight that is to be delivered between Delhi and Mumbai in the maximum time period of 72 hours is not delivered and is delivered in 80 hours, the Railways will be entitled to pay compensation for every late hour i.e., for the remaining 8 hours.

What are the benefits of this Pizza-delivery model?

                     (Image source from: railwaysyearbook.com)

Companies ranging from steel, core, iron ore, and cement can always turn back to Railways as the preferred mode of transportation.

Indian Railways is now mulling to target sectors and attract revenues from e-commerce, automobile, and pharmaceuticals.

In the last month, Indian Railways has been able to double the average speed of the freight or goods trains from 23kmph to 46kmph.

Railways has been able to massively take forward the infrastructure development which includes doubling and tripling of the rail lines, and electrification as well.

Railways has set for itself an ambitious target where it wants to take the revenue from the freight loading to new heights in the next four years.

Indian Railways has also planned to increase cargo handling by 33% by 2024.

Railways will in the future adopt a model like Dominos Pizza where the pizza delivery if not done in time, the customer would get a refund of the money spent.

The biggest advantage of this railway model will be cement, steel, iron, and coal supplying companies that would once again go with Railways.

By Gayatri Yellayi