Konkan Rail's Ro-Ro to expand operations

Konkan Railways' 'Roll on-Roll off' service (Ro-Ro) is all set to make its presence felt in India with the Corporation requesting the railways ministry to extend the freight service all over the country.

The Ro-Ro service enables the carrying of loaded trucks directly on a modified freight train. A common system in Europe, the service is currently available in India only on the Konkan Railway route.

"We have offered to extend the Ro-Ro all over India. There is scope to run 1,500 such freight trains all over India," K K Gokhale, director (operations and commercial), Konkan Railways said.

"The Ro-Ro service is making money. It has fetched us a revenue of around Rs 35 crore since the service started in 1999," B Rajaram, managing director of Konkan Railways, said.

Although there are some restrictions on load and commodity, the number of truck operators using the service has increased over the years. The service started with five trucks in 1999 and now serves around 50 trucks daily on each route.

"Almost any commodity can be carried although things like fuel-tanks and ammunition are not allowed. There is a maximum load limit of 25 tonnes for 2-axle trucks and 40 tonnes for 4-axle trucks," Gokhale said.

Currently, the Ro-Ro freight service runs on two routes daily - from Kolad to Verna (Mumbai to Goa) and Kolad to Surathkal (Mumbai to Mangalore).

"We charge the truck operator 65 to 75 paise per tonne per kilometre. It works out to around Rs 5,900 on the Mumbai to Goa route and around Rs 9,000 on the Mumbai to Mangalore route," Gokhale said.

Traversing hundreds of kilometres at a speed of 75 km per hour, the Ro-Ro service has been designed to save time and fuel costs for truck operators.

"Truckers take about a day to cover Mumbai to Goa by road but using the Ro-Ro service, the same distance can be covered in about 10 hours," Gokhale said. "Moreover, the average time of loading, unloading the trucks on and off the train is not more than 15-20 minutes."

Truck operators also seem happy to get rid of hassles like octroi and paperwork at terminals. In the Ro-Ro service, the drivers travel along with their freight-laden trucks on the train.

"This service saves us a lot of time and money. In fact, some years ago, my employer used to own two trucks but now after the Ro-Ro service, he owns six," Santosh Bhargava, a truck-driver using the Ro-Ro service, said.