Rlys to operate triple-stack container trains

Having put on tracks the country’s first double-stack container train on the Jaipur-Pipavav port route in May, Indian Railways now plan to operate triple-stack container trains on select non-electrified routes. In the process, the Railways hope to become the first to do so in the world.

The idea is to further reduce the unit cost of transportation by increasing the volume of goods carried per train. Mainly targeted at automobiles and their ancillaries, triple-stack trains are also being thought of as carriers of electronic and electrical goods. The move, say officials, could enhance profitability by 50 per cent.

“A large number of commodities don’t need a 8.5-feet high container. We are attempting to reduce the height of the container to 6.5 feet so we can stack three containers instead of two. If a double-stack container train doubled our carrying capacity, a triple-stack container train would treble it,” said RC Dubey, MD, Pipavav Railway Corporation (PRCL), a 50:50 JV between Indian Railways and Gujarat Pipavav Port (GPPL) which ran the first double-stack container train in India.