Railways To Create 100 Cargo Terminals With Easier Connectivity To Roads And Ports To Boost Multimodal Infrastructure

As an approach towards multimodal infrastructure, the Ministry of Railways will soon be creating 100 cargo terminals that have easier connectivity with roads and ports, an official release said on Thursday (9 June).

In the 20th meeting of the Network Planning Group (NPG) held at Udyog Bhawan in New Delhi on Wednesday (8 June), a senior official from the Rail Ministry shared that the various details identification, timelines and mapping for the plan are already underway and will soon be shared across with all other member ministries and departments for in-depth coordination.

The NPG, consisting of the heads of Network Planning Wing of infrastructure ministries, has has been constituted by the government under the PM GatiShakti initiative.

The PM GatiShakti plan was announced last year with an aim to break departmental silos and bring in more holistic and integrated planning and execution of projects with a view to addressing the issues of multi-modal and last-mile connectivities.

The NPG meeting on Wednesday was chaired by Amrit Lal Meena, special secretary in DPIIT's Logistics Division and saw participation from member ministries and departments including Ministry of Road Tranport and Highways, Ministry of Civil Aviation, Ministry of Railways, Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways, Ministry of Power, Department of Telecommunications and NITI Aayog, a Commerce Ministry release said on Thursday (9 June).

During the meeting, it was highlighted that that all 36 States and UTs have been integrated into the DoT's recently launched GatiShakti Sanchar portal.

The DoT will soon be convening a meeting with all NPG members to further accelerate the process of integrating the portal into the National Master Plan, the release said.

In the NPG meeting, the Special Secretary also highlighted the role that the National Master Plan portal plays in integrating inter-ministerial planning and coordination.

The NPG members were requested to maintain periodic engagement with the BISAG-N and regular project updates in the portal. The NPG members were also advised to regularise planning and project mapping through the portal, the release said.