Chairman, Railway Board, AK Mital was the chief guest on 16th National Seminar organised by Centre for Transportation Research and Management on the theme “Evolving Strategic Partnership for Select Freight Segments” at India Habitat Centre recently. Mohd. Jamshed, Member Traffic, Railway Board and president, CTRAM, Girish Pillai, advisor infrastructure, Railway Board, RK Tandon, ED/CTRAM, officers and stakeholders were among those present on the occasion.
While inaugurating the seminar, Mital welcomed the participants of the seminar and said that it is his privilege to be at the seminar organised by CTRAM. He said that the railways is most economical mode of transportation even then railway traffic is going down as compared to the other modes of transport. He pointed the reason behind that railways has not spent enough for developing basic infrastructure for the freight sector.
Mital further stated that the Railways has brought in various policies and initiatives for attracting the investors in these sectors. He said that Railways have improveed freight terminals as 90 per cent of the loading is done from freight terminals only. This seminar is supposed to concentrate on bringing the investment on terminals — to attract more and more freight by loading steel, cement and automobiles et al.
Jamshed congratulated CTRAM for choosing such a relevant theme for this seminar. He said that for the success of any economic development it is imperative that all the stake holders join hands for a collective effort. “The seminar with this focus on having strategic partnerships will surely throw open new dimensions in Railways freight business. Railways have always believed in taking together our stake holders in freight business,” he said.