'Parcel trains and logistic parks high on CRWC's priority'

Vinod Asthana, MD of Central Railside Warehouse Company Limited, a Miniratna under the Department of Food and Consumer Affairs, speaks about the company's performance, priorities and plans.

1. ON THE NEED FOR A SEPARATE ENTITY FOR RAILSIDE WAREHOUSING:

The facility of the full-train warehouse with the capacity of 5- 6 train loads has helped the stakeholders, especially during hostile weather conditions, traffic restrictions on road, non- existent facility of unloading in late night hours and non- availability of adequate trucks and labour.

2. ON INVESTMENT FOR INFRASTRUCTURE:

CRWC has invested more than Rs 250 crore in warehousing and terminal development.

We are trying to reduce the overall cost of logistics by leveraging economies of scale to the advantage of all stakeholders.

3. ON QUALITY ASSURANCE:

Terminals are being operated round the clock, with trained manpower. Most of them are ISO- certified and have proper procedures in place. Customer satisfaction surveys are also undertaken.

4. ON DIVERSIFICATION PLANS:

We have two ambitious plans: to launch parcel trains and develop logistic parks. As the Railways looks to decongest its stations by detaching parcel unit from passenger trains, CRWC wants to launch parcel train services across various warehouse complexes.

5. ON EXPANSION PLANS:

The work on the Mumbai RWC has been taken up. The plans for setting up RWCs at Cochin, Guwahati, Malda and Gandhidham are under process. We're also developing a multichamber cold storage chain operation.