As part of its initiatives to improve the freight loading/unloading from various un-tapped locations, the Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR) holds discussions with various stakeholders on a regular basis.
Loading and unloading of commodities from nearest locations help the local economy to flourish apart from making the essential items available for common people.
The Business Development Units (BDUs) of NF Railway holds discussions about how they will be able to send their commodities to outside or receive delivery of materials from outside with lesser cost of transportation.
These discussions by the BDUs within their respective areas are also helping to find new segment of traffic for movement by train, said a statement issued by Guneet Kaur, chief public relations officer (CPRO) of NF Railway.
In a recent such initiative, the BDU of Rangiya division under Northeast Frontier Railway organised a meeting with North Assam Chambers of Commerce and Industry at Tezpur on September 3, 2021, Kaur informed.
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During the interactive session, various issues including potential for new loading from Dekargaon station, problems faced by the business community during loading/unloading were discussed.
Demand for piecemeal traffic towards Dekargaon station aiming at facilitating transportation of goods of smallscale industries was also discussed.
The idea of Kisan Rail services to assist individuals/groups of farmers, state marketing/co-operative federation, co-operative societies and food processor units aimed at ensuring fast transportation of agricultural produce along with subsidy was shared with the business community, Kaur said.
Business communities were also informed that they can easily transport their commodities from their nearest convenient railway station at a much cheaper rate in comparison to road sector.
NF Railway has set up Business Development Units (BDUs) in all the divisions – Katihar, Alipurduar, Rangiya, Lumding and Tinsukia and also at Zonal Headquarters level to increase the freight transportation volume.
“The initiatives by the BDUs of various divisions have been successful in bringing in a new mode of traffic to railways from road sector,” Kaur further said.