Southern Railway will soon unveil a vision document that would focus on enhancing business activity at the Rail Auto Hub at Walajabad. It is also expected to seal a deal with two ports – Chennai and Ennore — as it intends to capture the considerable export market on offer from the two ports, through competitive pricing
The Railway has done a thorough study on how to enhance the Rail Auto Hub and increase the volume of traffic. Details of this study would be unveiled in a week’s time. According to a senior official from Southern Railways, this document will give a boost to the automobile industry in Tamil Nadu. “We have carefully analysed the container traffic from the hub to Chennai Port and the transporting spare parts, which is also on cards. As spare parts usually get transported by trailers, we are looking to capture this market share,” he added.
The plan for setting up this Hub at Walajabad, a panchayat town in Kancheepuram district, was made during the Railway Budget 2016. Spread over 5,000 sq.m., the hub — which was inaugurated by the Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu — is located near auto units of Oragdam, Sri Perambadur and Singa Perumal Kovil. These areas house automobile giants including Hyundai, Nissan, Ford and Daimler Chrysler.
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Last week, Hyundai Motors sent its first consignment of 124 cars to Changsari, a town in Kamrup district of Assam. The first loading resulted in freight earnings of Rs. 16.37 lakh for the railways.
An official from Hyundai, said: “We expect our rail coefficient to be about 6 per cent while road would be 93 per cent and domestic coastal about 1 per cent during the current year.”
Southern Railway is now awaiting other car firms to come forward and utilise the facility.
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“Nissan, being one the largest car manufacturers, looks forward to this efficient and cost-effective infrastructure, as it will soon reach the next milestone of dispatching six lakh cars from Chennai,” said Guillaume Sicard, President, Nissan India Operations. Car-maker Ford feels that this hub will offer a greener logistical solution through decongestion of road traffic.
“Considering the fact that this region caters to about one million cars manufactured per year, Indian Railway stands to gain from the need for efficient finished vehicle transport by automakers,” said Jahnavi Gokulakrishnan, Senior Research Analyst, Transportation & Logistics Practice, Frost & Sullivan – Middle East, North Africa & South Asia.
According to Ms. Gokulakrishnan, a significant share of finished vehicle transport happens via road currently. However, the conditions of the roads across the country do not support transportation of this scale, causing high inefficiencies and bottlenecks in the automobile supply chain.
About 0.02 per cent of roads in India can support high speed transport. Furthermore, the average truck speed in India is less than 25 km/hour, which is lesser than the global average. Additionally, inter-state toll collection and State border crossing procedures add to the inefficiencies.