100 Gati Shakti Cargo Terminal to be set up by Railways in next three financial years

Minister of Railways, Communications and Electronics and Information Technology, Ashwini Vaishnaw, on Wednesday informed that government will set up 100 Gati Shakti Cargo Terminal in the next three financial years i.e. 2022-23, 2023-24 and 2024-25.

In a written reply to a question in the Lok Sabha, Vaishnaw said that the locations for GCTs are being identified or finalized on the basis of demand from industry and the potential of Cargo Traffic.

"So far, 6 GCTs have already been commissioned and around 74 more locations have been provisionally identified for development of GCTs," reads the reply.

In order to boost investment from the industry in the development of additional terminals for handling rail cargos, a new 'Gati Shakti Multi-Modal Cargo Terminal (GCT)' policy has been launched on December 15, 2021.

The key features of the Gati Shakti Cargo Terminal are a simplified application and approval process, quick and hassle-free approvals, removal of departmental charges and no land licence fees on the Railway land used for connectivity.

"No cost of commercial staff to be charged, all common-user traffic facilities at the serving station to be constructed and maintained by Railway. For Terminals giving 1 MT or more outward traffic, cost of mid-section Block Hut/ Block station to be reimbursed as 10% freight rebate," are some of the salient features of GCT.

PM Gati Shakti is an initiative launched with aim of coordinating infrastructure projects across all key infrastructure ministries, including railways, roads, waterways, and aviation, for the planning as well as execution of national infrastructure projects including all state governments. The Gati Shakti initiative has brought together 16 Ministries and departments of the Indian government, including the railways and roads.

( With inputs from ANI )