Three new wagons (BLCS, BOXNS and BOBSNS) have been designed with 25T axle load, which are having approximately 12% to 17% increase in carrying capacity over equivalent lesser axle load (22/22.9T) wagons.
- Further, in four wagons (BOBSNM1, BOXNHL 25T, BOYEL and BOXNEL) axle load has been increased to 25T resulting in increased carrying capacity of approximately 12% to 14% over earlier lesser axle load (22.82/22.9T) wagons.
- In order to boost investment from industry in development of additional terminals for handling rail cargo, a new ‘Gati Shakti Multi-Modal Cargo Terminal (GCT)’ policy has been launched on 15.12.2021 and the target is to commission 100 Gati Shakti Cargo Terminals (GCTs) within the next three financial years, i.e. 2022-23, 2023-24 and 2024-25.
- These terminals will be constructed on non Railway land, as well as partially or fully on Railway land.
- The location of GCTs is being decided on the basis of demand from industry and potential of Cargo Traffic.
- So far, approximately 71 locations have been provisionally identified for development of GCTs, and some of the locations may be added/removed at a later stage as per the response from concerned parties.
- The layout of these terminals will be decided by the concerned parties depending on the expected quantum of traffic, type of consignment and availability of space etc.
About Gati Shakti – National Master Plan:
- Prime Minister launched PM Gati Shakti – National Master Plan for Multi-modal Connectivity, essentially a digital platform to bring 16 Ministries including Railways and Roadways together for integrated planning and coordinated implementation of infrastructure connectivity projects.
- The multi-modal connectivity will provide integrated and seamless connectivity for movement of people, goods and services from one mode of transport to another.
- It will facilitate the last mile connectivity of infrastructure and also reduce travel time for people.
Vision of PM Gati Shakti:
- PM Gati Shakti will incorporate the infrastructure schemes of various Ministries and State Governments like Bharatmala, Sagarmala, inland waterways, dry/land ports, UDAN etc.
- Economic Zones like textile clusters, pharmaceutical clusters, defence corridors, electronic parks, industrial corridors, fishing clusters, agri zones will be covered to improve connectivity & make Indian businesses more competitive.
- It will also leverage technology extensively including spatial planning tools with ISRO (Indian Space Research Organisation) imagery developed by BiSAG-N (Bhaskaracharya National Institute for Space Applications and Geoinformatics). More details of the Plan can be found here.
PM Gati Shakti is based on six pillars:
- Comprehensiveness: It will include all the existing and planned initiatives of various Ministries and Departments with one centralized portal. Each and every Department will now have visibility of each other’s activities providing critical data while planning & execution of projects in a comprehensive manner.
- Prioritization: Through this, different Departments will be able to prioritize their projects through cross-sectoral interactions.
- Optimization: The National Master Plan will assist different ministries in planning for projects after identification of critical gaps. For the transportation of the goods from one place to another, the plan will help in selecting the most optimum route in terms of time and cost.
- Synchronization: Individual Ministries and Departments often work in silos. There is lack of coordination in planning and implementation of the project resulting in delays. PM Gati Shakti will help in synchronizing the activities of each department, as well as of different layers of governance, in a holistic manner by ensuring coordination of work between them.
- Analytical: The plan will provide the entire data at one place with GIS based spatial planning and analytical tools having 200+ layers, enabling better visibility to the executing agency.
- Dynamic: All Ministries and Departments will now be able to visualize, review and monitor the progress of cross-sectoral projects, through the GIS platform, as the satellite imagery will give on-ground progress periodically and progress of the projects will be updated on a regular basis on the portal. It will help in identifying the vital interventions for enhancing and updating the master plan.
Source: PIB- Press Release | Image Credit (representational): MoR
