Amazon Ties Up with Indian Railways to Carry Consignments

Amazon India has partnered with the Indian Railways for a pilot programme to carry out inter-city transport of e-commerce consignments on its EMU services in non-peak hours. Railway Ministry in a statement said they are working on the pilot project of allowing to carry total of 7 metric tonnes of the e-commerce consignments per day. This project will give a major boost to the railway’s parcel business and help generate additional non-fare revenue & Amazon will benefit with reduced transit time for their orders.

Crux of the Matter

1. Indian railways having the worlds second largest rail network in the world, with 23 million travellers and 3 million tonnes (MT) of freight daily, this collaboration is expected to give a major boost to the Indian Railways.

2. Zonal railways will earmark a space of 2.5 tonnes in the parcel van of the trains for loading/unloading of Amazon India consignments.

3. Amazon will pay freight charges equivalent to the highest lease rate on the same train on pro-rata basis.

4. As a pilot project the railways will give Amazon space in two of its premium trains – the Sealdah Rajdhani and the Mumbai Rajdhani for a period of one month, as per the statement by the Indian Railway Board.

5. According to the Press Release of Amazon India, it would be building an e-commerce transportation product that would enhance capacity planning, contract payment methods, infrastructure and security of freight movement via the rail network.

6. “Upon success of the pilot project, other routes may also be taken up by Amazon and other e-commerce companies may also be interested,” the rail ministry added in the statement.

Curiopedia

Indian Railways is India’s national railway system operated by the Ministry of Railways. It manages the fourth largest railway network in the world by size, with a route length of 67,368-kilometre and total track length of 121,407-kilometre as of March 2017. Routes are electrified with 25 kV AC electric traction while 33% of them are double or multi-tracked. Indian Railway runs more than 20,000 passenger trains daily, on both long-distance and suburban routes, from 7,349 stations across India. More Info

Curated Coverage

1. Economic Times – Amazon India railways deal: Amazon India, Railways tie up on transport of e-commerce packages

2. Livemint – It’s a first for Indian Railways as it ferries Amazon consignment by local train

3. The Hindu BusinessLine – Amazon India ties up with Railways to build a freight product for e-commerce

#Business #India #Infrastructure