Exporters welcome steps to improve rail network to ports

Welcoming the Railway Budget, exporters today said the announcements related to augmentation of rail network and port connectivity would help traders.
The Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO) said that rail side warehousing would encourage development of cold storage facilities on vacant land near freight terminals.
The Engineering Export Promotion Council (EEPC) said the Railway Budget has spelt out a map for improving port connectivity that will result in ease of doing business and lowering transaction costs for exporters and importers.
EEPC India Chairman T S Bhasin said the announcement to develop rail side logistics parks and warehousing in PPP mode would also help the country's exporters.

"Setting up of India's first rail auto hub in Chennai and development of cold storage facilities on vacant land near freight terminals would go a long way in helping the country's internal and external trade and industry," he said in a statement.
He also said that the connectivity to ports on the 7,517 km coastline by the railways will yield positive results for exporters who are always battling the issue of poor infrastructure.
The Railway Budget for 2016-17 today spared passengers and goods movement from any increase in tariffs while it announced introduction of three new superfast trains and creation of dedicated north-south, east-west and east coast freight corridors by 2019.