Railway sharpens plans for a freight terminal in Samba

The Indian Railways has recently decided to build a world class freight terminal in Samba district of Jammu and Kashmir. The terminal will be the first of its kind with a capacity to move 6,000 to 9,000 metric tons of goods per day. Recently a team led by Chief Transport Planning Manager (CTPM), Railways, Devendra Singh visited the Samba station at Rakh Amb Tali and took stock of the existing facilities and that the team assessed the requirement for infrastructure to operate the freight terminal for facilitating easy and cheaper transportation of trade goods, raw material and finished goods to benefit the traders and industrialists. Among others, an on the spot meeting was held with the local unit holders (industrialists), who vehemently demanded for making early provision for such a facility as most of the raw material is brought from outside the state. The team informed that the project is in pipeline, which has been given to a private player and that the terminal would be expanded as per the needs of the traders and unit holders. Initially, the terminal would have the capacity to handle the movement of two to five cargo trains per day in and out. The cargo trains would be ordinary goods trains, container trains or automobile trade trains, having the capacity to move 6,000 to 9,000 metric tons of goods per day. The terminal will also handle container, brake bulk (cement or fertilizers or steel and automobiles) apart from other industrial goods, he said.