B S Yediyurappa and Suresh C. Angadi flags off RORO service of South Western Railway

B S Yediyurappa, Chief Minister of Karnataka and Suresh C. Angadi, Minister of State of Railways today flagged off first-ever RORO service of South Western Railway from Nelamangla (near Bengaluru) to Bale (near Solapur)

Ro - Ro Train Service

August 30, Karnataka: B S Yediyurappa, Chief Minister of Karnataka said-

Our beloved Hon’ble Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi ji is emphasizing on Multimodal connectivity. APMC Markets in the region offer tremendous scope for RORO

He congratulated Shri Suresh C. Angadi, Minister of State of Railways for taking lead in the initiative and assured full cooperation from State Government.

RORO services are a combination of best features of road and rail transports in the sense that they offer door to door service with minimal handling transported by fat and direct rail link. Road transport has the advantage of door to door delivery of goods. However, increasing traffic on roads is leading to congestion and delays to passenger vehicles. This will cause unsafe travel conditions. Also, delays at interstate check posts due to inspection of various documents, etc. contribute to increased travel time.

Advantages of RO-RO :

Roll-on-Roll-off is a multimodal delivery model with the following advantages

• Faster movement of goods and essentials, reducing Time taken by trucks to reach destinations due to traffic congestion in between cities

• Reduces congestion on the roads

• Saves precious fuel

• Reduces carbon footprint

• Relief to the crew of truck as it avoids long-distance driving

• No hassles of check posts/toll gates etc

• Seamless Inter-operability between roadways & railways-Inter-modal transport on existing track

• Ensuring an uninterrupted supply of essential commodities

• Free time for loading/ unloading is 3 hours

• Ro-RO will be a reckoning force in "vocal for local" –

• Will boost our local MSME units by encouraging piecemeal /decentralized loading through trucks.

• RO-RO will help government initiatives like "operation green" to stabilize prices of  TOP(tomato, potato and Onion)

• Provides a link between agriculture producing regions and agro consumption centres

• Ensures farmers get the right market and right price for their produce

• Connects and Balances the commodity deficient and surplus markets

RO-RO train services were first introduced in Indian Railways on Konkan Railways in 1999, and are running successfully since then.

In lockdown announced to control the spread of Covid-19 in the country, the RO-RO model came to the rescue for many transporters.

A Solapur based firm, M/s Jitendra Realty and Infrastructure Pvt Ltd Company(JRIPL) explored the commercial feasibility of RO-RO train services between Solapur and Bengaluru. Based on the feasibility report submitted by Central Railway, recommended by South Central and South Western Railway, Railway Board has approved the RO-RO service between the two commercial Hubs Nelamangla (near Bengaluru) and Bale (near Solapur)in April 2020.

Bengaluru and Solapur cities are thriving business cities, rich in agri-products. Substantial road traffic carrying a large number of commodities moves between these two cities

After the detailed study, the route of RORO train services between these two cities is decided to be passing through four states - Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Maharashtra.

Technical aspects: The most important safety consideration of the RORO train service is the maximum moving dimensions of the trucks loaded onto the railway wagons. Railway routes have permissible limits of height and width of the moving vehicles and when trucks are loaded on top of the wagons, their overall dimensions must not exceed these limits.

RORO services on Bengaluru - Solapur section shall be the only privately operated RORO train services on Indian Railways which will not only help two major markets of Solapur and Bengaluru and also ease congestion on the busy highway giving a big relief to the travelling public on this route.

The major commodities expected from Bengaluru end are spices, dry fruits, raw coconuts, coffee, nuts, etc. while from Solapur end are agricultural products such as onion, pulses, fruits, etc are likely to be loaded. After Feb. 2020 it is observed that transportation of agricultural products has assumed much importance.

Looking at the advantages and opportunities of the RORO, State Govt. has also promised to extend full support to RORO. By this hassle-free RORO service, agriculture and industries of both ends will get a tremendous benefit, which will be a WIN-WIN for all stakeholders.