The New Rewari and New Palanpur section of the Western Dedicated Freight Corridor recently witnessed the successful trial run of the Roll On– Roll Off (Ro-Ro) service. The rake full of flat wagons commenced its journey from New Rewari in Haryana and arrived at New Palanpur in Gujarat, covering a total distance of 630 km. Consisting of carriages of loaded and empty trucks on flat rail wagons, the new service would enable door-to-door services while ensuring fast and safe movement on rail tracks.
As of now, 2,500-3,000 trucks ply on a daily basis from Rewari to Palanpur. It is intended that the licensee will run two rakes of 45 wagons each with 450 trips per rake with a total of 900 trips during a year. This initiative is a win-win proposition for all concerned stakeholders from customers to Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation to Indian Railways and off course the society at large.
One of the prime benefits of the services is that the customers would be assured a faster service with transit time of roughly 10 hours vis-à-vis at least 24 hours through the road, a saving of around 14 hours.
This service will result in reduced expenditure on maintenance due to less wear and tear of trucks. Furthermore, enhanced driver performance and safe cargo transit would also be ensured.