A day after the Union Cabinet approved the revised policy on the long-term leasing of the Railways Land and planned to develop 300 Gati Shakti Cargo Terminals, Railways Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Thursday said the move would help the national transporter garner a larger share in freight transport, thereby increasing the Railways revenues.
Mr. Vaishnaw on Thursday added that post the launch of the ‘Gati Shakti Multi-Modal Cargo Terminal (GCT)’ policy in December last year, the government had received a very good response from the industry. “The target of 300 terminals is a very achievable target. We already have 150 firm proposals -- about 93 applications have been received to build terminals and about 65 entities have expressed their interest,” the minister said.
A senior Railways official added that the Indian Railways expected incremental revenues of at least ₹30,000 crore per annum from freight services post-development of the 300 ‘Gati shakti Cargo Terminals’ over the next five years. Additionally, the setting up of these terminals was expected to generate direct employment for 30,000 people and 90,000 indirect jobs.
