Railway Ministry declines Defence Ministry's plea to reduce military special train size, charges

New Delhi: The Railway Ministry has declined the Defence Ministry's request to reduce the minimum size of military special trains from 30 wagons or coaches to 20 and provide a corresponding waiver in freight charges.

The Railway Ministry cited operational constraints as the reason for rejecting the request.

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Officials said that under the existing policy, the Railways' standard costing parameter is based on a minimum formation of 30 wagons or coaches. Reducing the number of wagons would not proportionately reduce the operational costs, they said.

According to officials, the Defence Ministry had sought permission to operate military special trains with a minimum of 20 wagons instead of 30 and requested a waiver in the applicable charges.

"The matter has been examined in consultation with Traffic Transportation Directorate of the Railway Board. Extant guidelines hold good and any further relaxation in the minimum formation/costing parameter below 30 wagons/coaches may not be operationally feasible," a Railway Board letter addressed to a senior official in the Ministry of Defence said.

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The letter also referred to a request from the additional director general of movement (ADG Mov), Integrated Headquarters of the Ministry of Defence (Army), stating that the Defence authorities had sought "to grant waiver to the present costing parameter requirement of minimum 30 wagons/coaches of military rakes, and sought permission to move 20 wagons/coaches."