Maharashtra firm to run first privately-operated RO-RO freight train between Bengaluru & Solapur

BENGALURU: Railways will launch India’s first privately-operated as well as the longest roll-on, roll-off (RO-RO) freight service between Bengaluru and Solapur, on Sunday, facilitating transport of goods-laden trucks along the 682-km route.

The freight trains will carry trucks loaded with goods on flat platforms or wagons promising logistic firms and transport operators faster and cost-efficient, time-saving transport. Solapur-based Jitendra Realty and Infrastructure will run the service the railways has been bullish on.

Bengaluru and Solapur are home to a large number of industries and agriculture mandis, and see about 7000 trucks plying between them, both ways, daily, carrying about 1.20 lakh metric tonnes of freight. The new service will be available between Nelamangala in Bengaluru and Bale in Solapur.

Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa and Minister of State for Railways Suresh Angadi will flag off the service. “It will be a milestone in integration of various modes of transport that prime minister Narendra Modi has been pursuing,“ Angadi told ET. The service will also help keep prices of essential commodities under check, he added.

Agriculture, industries, pharma and commodities sectors will benefit from the new service, the minister said. "There is no need for a truck to arrive at the station and load goods into the train. The new service will carry the truck itself, which can drive down wherever it wants after arriving at the destination." Though one such service exists in the Konkan railway, the Bengaluru-Solapur will be the longest covering three railway zones in Karnataka, Telangana and Maharashtra. Though the railways introduced five more RO-RO services after first launching it on the Konkan railway section in 1999, they were not successful. The Railway Board decided in favour of a new service between Bengaluru and Solapur after Jitendra Realty studied the commercial viability.

The service will not just help railways provide door-to-door service, but will also save diesel otherwise consumed by trucks, and prevent environmental pollution and congestion on roads, Angadi said.

According to railway officials, one RO-RO service can earn about Rs 55 crore for the railways. If the railways does five trips in a week, it will be able to earn about Rs 275 crore from this section alone. If the new service becomes a success, it will help railways replicate it on other routes as well.

Each RO-RO rake can transport 42 trucks, and trucks will get on and off the rakes with quick turn-around time. Railway officials said they expect Bengaluru to send spices, dry fruits, raw coconuts, coffee, nuts, etc., and receive agricultural produce such as onion, pulses, fruits, etc., from Solapur.