RORO concept is very old in India (more than 18 years!) and the utility of RORO has been proven beyond doubt by Konkan Railway, which has been successfully operating RORO trains since 26 Jan 1999! IR have failed to take cognisance of the feat achieved by Konkan Railway.
Today IR has been awaken by a court decree and forced to operate RORO trains to decongest and reduce pollution in the national capital. Still IR has not taken the lessons and picked up the right clues.
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****...
more... IR is using RORO to decongest Delhi *******
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Here the trucks not destined to locations beyond Delhi and just pass thorugh Delhi, are loaded on the RORO train at outer of Delhi, transported across the Delhi and unloaded at the outer of Delhi in opposite direction.
Benefits-
Truck owners pay charge which is lesser than the
(1) expenses incurred by way of toll tax,
(2) diesel expenses,
(3) reduced maintenance expenses wear and tear of truck,
(4) faster delivery (saving of time) as a lot of time is spent on toll gates, barriers and very slow road traffic in city area
(5) Savings in driving efforts
(6) Safer transportation, etc
Other benefits
(1) Reduction in congestion of roads in cities
(2) Reduction in pollution and hence health hazards in cities
(3) Reduction in diesel consumption and hence saving in foreign exchange
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**** RORO should be used to reduce the logistics cost of India *****
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RORO should not be considered as just a measure to decongest cities by carrrying trucks through the mega cities. RORO is a very broad concept where the trucks should use RORO to the extent possible.
For example a truck meant to transport goods from a factory in one remote city to other far off city should be loaded on RORO train at nearest possible rail connection/loading point and unloaded at unloading point nearest to ultimate destination, so that maximum distance could be covered by rail. This way the following benefits could be maximised:
(1) for truck operator- lower (wear-tear) maintenance cost, minimum fuel consumption, lesser driving efforts, faster and safer transportation
(2) for IRly- More traffic and revenue
(3) For India- Lower Logistics cost and hence boost to Economy (industries/exports/employment etc), lesser environmental damage, Saving in foreign exchange etc.
