Marking a significant development in the world of rail freight, South Coast Railway has successfully diverted imported wood pulp traffic from Road to Rail, thereby opening up an entirely new source of revenue for the railways.
As per SCR imported wood pulp has traditionally been transported by road from Kakinada to paper industries in Maharashtra for the past 15 years.
However, in a recent consignment of imported wood pulp coming in from Indonesia to Kakinada anchorage port (bound for Maharashtra) the cargo has been sent thru rail and not road.
The first BOST rake carrying imported wood pulp was loaded today at Kakinada and is moving to Bhigwan in Maharashtra, SCR said in a statement.
Background
Recognizing the potential for shifting this traffic to rail, South Coast Railway had engaged with industry representatives and examined the actual loading requirements and tariff structure.
It was observed that the actual loadability of wood pulp is around 45–50 tonnes per wagon, whereas the existing railway charging structure was based on 65.1 tonnes per wagon, making rail transportation less competitive compared to road.
To address this issue, South Coast Railway held discussions with the industry and submitted a proposal to the Railway Board in July 2026 for a suitable rating of Wood Pulp.
Based on the proposal, Wood Pulp has now been included as a commodity in the Goods Tariff under Class-110. This led to a considerable reduction in the freight charges for the commodity. This made the transportation more competitive by rail over road.
As a result of this tariff rationalization, the 1,061-km long-lead traffic has been successfully diverted from road to rail said SCR.
Revenue Potential
The freight earning from each rake is being pegged at Rs 40 lakhs. South Coast Railway expects to generate around 1.5 lakh tonnes of additional loading per annum, with an estimated annual freight revenue of approximately Rs 20 crore from this traffic.
The successful diversion of this long-distance traffic from road to rail reflects South Coast Railway’s continued efforts towards customer-oriented freight business development, tariff rationalization and attracting new traffic to the railway system.
South Coast Railway’s general Manager, Mr Sandeep Mathur congratulated Principal Chief Operations Manager Mr Vineet Kumar, Principal Chief Commercial Manager Mr K Sambasiva Rao, DRM/Vijayawada Mr Mohit Sonakiya and the entire team for their concerted efforts in identifying, developing and successfully converting this traffic from road to rail.
