As part of efforts to diversify the transportation of commodities via rail to meet new demands, Minister for Railways Ashwini Vaishnaw on Tuesday launched a new policy to facilitate the movement of bulk cement, along with a new rate.
The new rate for bulk cement has been rationalised to Rs 0.90 per tonne per km. Earlier, it was based on different distance bands.
Vaishnaw said that the policy will ensure the supply of bulk cement from plants to terminals near consumption centres in specialised wagons, which will be cost-effective and environmentally friendly. The Railways will also facilitate the setting up of bulk cement terminals across the country under its Bulk Cement Terminal policy, the Minister said.
The consumption of bulk cement, in place of bagged cement, is increasing, and in some metro cities, it has crossed a 50 per cent share.
“The policy has been launched while keeping the middle class in mind, which will help them to get construction material at reduced price. The policy will cut down the transportation costs by 30 per cent. Earlier the freight rate was in slabs. For example, the plant at 200 km and 210 km had to pay different rates, whereas there is not much difference in the distance between them. Now, it is the flat rate of Rs 0.90 per tonne per km for actual distance. Now it will not matter how far the cement plant is, it has now become uniform and has eliminated the biases,” said Vaishnaw.
He further said that with the implementation of the Gati Shakti Multi-Modal Cargo Terminal Policy, the construction of the terminal or railway sidings has become easy. “With the new policy, we will see many cement terminals now. The CONCOR has launched a special container for the bulk cement transportation, which will be pollution-free. In the next reform we will focus on another industry,” the Minister said.
Almost 17 per cent of the total cement transported in a year moves via the Railways. During FY25, a total of 87 million tonnes (MT) of cement was transported via the Railways. Out of this, 80 MT of cement was bagged (in covered wagons) and 7 MT was bulk cement transported through special wagons and containers. Total freight loading by the Railways during the period was over 1,600 MT, of which coal had the highest share at almost 50 per cent.
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Vaishnaw said that with this policy, the Railways is targeting an increase in its share of bulk cement vis-a-vis road to 30 per cent in the next five years.
Cement Manufacturers’ Association secretary general Aparna Sharma said that the policy will ensure the faster movement of cement.
“If you look at the cement industry, almost 18-20 per cent of the cement consumption is bulk, and of this, 10 per cent bulk cement is moved by the Railways. Also, given the fact that we are looking at a market where 60-65 per cent of the cement consumption is dominated by under 300 km distance. In this segment, we do not find bagged movement very viable. So, the policy appears timely, it will ensure the faster movement,” said Sharma.
Railway officials said that facilities such as hoppers, silos, bagging plants, etc. will be developed under the policy, which will help in unloading the cement. For this, the Railways will provide its land and give concession to the cement companies to develop the bulk cement handling terminals.