Railways’ Trucks-on-Trains service cuts transit times by 60% and removes thousands of HGVs from Indian motorways.
Indian Railways is driving a fundamental change in national logistics through the strategic expansion of its Trucks-on-Trains initiative. Reports confirmed that this multimodal system successfully integrates the speed of electrified rail corridors with the necessity of road-based last-mile delivery.
Operating primarily on a 636 km stretch of the Western Dedicated Freight Corridor between New Rewari and New Palanpur, the service has transformed transit efficiency by reducing travel duration from thirty hours to approximately twelve.
The environmental impact is significant, with the shift from road to rail preventing over 230 million kilograms of carbon emissions and saving roughly 8.9 million litres of fuel. Beyond sustainability, the project has enhanced road safety by removing nearly fifty thousand heavy vehicles from congested motorways, thereby lowering the risk of accidents caused by driver fatigue.
Commercial performance has remained robust, with total revenue exceeding ₹131 crore from nearly two thousand trips completed since its launch.
Major industrial players, including the dairy federation Amul, have adopted the service to streamline their supply chains.
To support further growth, the Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation is developing advanced multipurpose wagons capable of carrying heavier payloads. This expansion aims to connect more industrial clusters to the network, further lowering logistics costs and supporting the goal of a carbon-neutral transport sector.
SOURCE – PIB
