S Rly launches advance booking of parcel space by scheduled trains

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Railways call for quotations whenever there are no long term demand for parcel space in any specific train.

Following the demand from logistics providers and parcel customers, Southern Railway has launched new system of advance booking parcel space up to 120 days in SLRs and parcel vans attached to passenger trains and time-tabled parcel special trains. This will help the logistics providers and parcel customers to plan well in advance their cargo movement schedules with certainty and will also attract more parcel traffic to railways.

The scheme of advance booking of parcel space in trains is available in addition to the already existing scheme of indenting of parcel vans and parcel leasing where parcel spaces in specific trains are leased to registered lease holders for a maximum period of five years through open tender. The leasing policy also permits the registered lease holders to opt for temporary leasing of SLRs (8 metric tonne) for a maximum period of 30 days at a time through quotations, said a release by Southern Railway.

Day to day leasing can also be opted for a maximum of 10 days at a time through quotations. Railways call for quotations whenever there are no long term demand for parcel space in any specific train.

Previously, the temporary leasing of parcel space for 30 days was open only for SLRs in passenger carrying trains. Now this scheme of temporary leasing of parcel space for 30 days is also made open for parcel vans attached to passenger carrying trains or time-tabled parcel space as per latest modification in the policy.

This scheme of advance booking will lead to better utilisation of parcel spaces in high demand sectors and will also help railways identify the need for enhancing the parcel spaces by attaching additional parcel vans by such high demand trains, it said.