INTERVIEW: Railway board member hints at stable freight rates FY09
Friday, Sep 26
NEW DELHI - Railway dry bulk freight rates are likely to be stable
in the
current financial year, to spare companies higher costs in these
troubled
times, V.N. Mathur, member (traffic), Railway Board, said.
Indian Railways is the largest dry bulk carrier in the country and
enjoys
near monopoly in transport of coal and iron ore.
Mathur said while base freight rates are likely to be stable for
the year,
the Railways may revise other surcharges such as port congestion and
busy
season surcharge.
"One of the complaints we received is that the port congestion
surcharge
was affecting some domestic traders also. We have now ensured that
domestic
freight rate is out of this surcharge," Mathur told NewsWire18 in an
interview, barely a week before retiring from service.
One of the gainers of this plan will be state-owned Ispat
Industries Ltd.
The steel maker uses the Vizag port to ship iron ore from NMDC
Ltd.'s
Bailadila mines in Chhattisgarh to its plant in Dolvi, Mahrashtra.
"The secret of Railways' phenomenal success has been its rolling
stock.
Anything that keeps it idle has to be compensated for," Mathur said.
He strongly advocated the busy season surcharge, saying it
encourages
companies to spread their traffic uniformly throughout the year.
Railways will levy 5-7% busy season surcharge from Oct 1 to Mar
31, a
period when industrial activity usually hastens, as companies try to
meet
their annual targets.
"The power industry is supposed to import 20 mln tn coal this
year. Up to
August, they should have imported 8 mln tn, but they did only half of
it.
Naturally, there will be a logjam towards the end of the year," he
said.
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