Railways Commissions 15 Gati Shakti Multimodal Cargo Terminals

In an effort to decrease logistics cost and increase competitiveness, Indian Railways has commissioned 15 Gati Shakti Multimodal Cargo Terminals (GCT) so far.

Also, 96 more locations have been provisionally identified for development of GCTs.

The location of GCTs is being decided on the basis of demand from industry and potential of Cargo Traffic.

It has been targeted to commission 100 Gati Shakti Cargo Terminals within the next three financial years.

GCTs are being developed by private players, and can be developed on non-Railway land or on either fully or partially on Railway land.

For GCTs to be developed on non-Railway land, the operators will identify the location and will construct the terminal after obtaining necessary approval.

And for GCTs to be developed either fully or partially on Railway land, the land parcels will be identified by the Railway and the operator for construction and operation of the Terminal will be selected through open tendering process.

The PM Gati Shakti 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 connectivity.

A new terminal policy called Gati Shakti Multimodal Cargo Terminal policy has been issued to facilitate and accelerate development of cargo terminals on the Indian Railways network.

First Gati Shakti Multi-Modal Cargo Terminal was commissioned in Asansol Division of Eastern Railway in March this year.