JAMMU, May 26 (KNS) The Indian Chamber of Commerce (ICC), Jammu Chapter, has urged the Northern Railway to reschedule freight rake arrivals during daytime, enhance unloading time to 24 hours, and waive demurrage charges among a host of measures to boost logistics and industrial growth in the region.
The demand was placed by ICC Jammu Chairman Rahul Sahai during a Business Development Unit (BDU) Interaction Meeting organised by the Northern Railway’s Jammu Division at the Divisional Railway Office here on Tuesday.
The meeting was chaired by Divisional Railway Manager Vivek Kumar, along with Senior Divisional Commercial Manager Uchit Singhal and Senior Divisional Operations Manager Arish Bansal.
Mr Sahai submitted a detailed representation on behalf of ICC Jammu, emphasising the need for efficient rail connectivity, improved freight infrastructure, and ease of doing business for industries, MSMEs, traders, and agriculture-based sectors in Jammu & Kashmir.
He specifically requested that rake arrival timings be scheduled during daytime due to labour availability constraints and appealed for extension of rake unloading time from the existing seven hours to 24 hours. He also sought waiver of demurrage charges in cases where unloading delays occur due to operational challenges.
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Mr Sahai further called for development of goods sheds at Bari Brahmana, Samba, and Jammu, as well as early operationalisation of the Inland Container Depot (ICD) at Samba. He highlighted the need for better wagon availability, multi-modal logistics facilities, rational freight charges, digitalisation of freight systems, improved last-mile connectivity, and a train stoppage at Anantnag station to support local businesses.
Northern Railway officials gave a detailed presentation on freight services including Roll-On Roll-Off (RO-RO) services, parcel transshipment, reefer containers, automobile carriers, and tank wagons. They emphasised benefits of RO-RO such as reduced transport cost, lower fuel consumption, decongestion of roads, and environmental sustainability.
The interaction saw participation from freight customers, logistics operators, and representatives from CONCOR, IOCL, BPCL, and Adani Cements, besides ICC’s Ashish Jain and Raj Dua.
Mr Sahai appreciated the Railways for the stakeholder dialogue and expressed confidence that regular engagement would significantly strengthen trade and industrial growth in the Union Territory. He also assured full cooperation from ICC Jammu in all initiatives aimed at improving freight and logistics infrastructure. (KNS).