Directorate Industries & Commerce Jammu organised an interactive session between the Business Development Unit (Firozpur Division) of Northern Railways and leading industrialists of Jammu Division.

The session was held on the directions of Principal Secretary to Government, Industries and Commerce Department, J&K Government, Ranjan Thakur, and under the guidance of Director Industries & Commerce Jammu, Anoo Malhotra.

Unit holders involved in manufacturing of Copper, Cement, Steel, Fertilizers, Heavy Engineering equipment, pharmaceuticals and others involved in transportation of raw materials/finished goods to long distances attended the session.

Senior Divisional Operations Manager, Northern Railways (Ferozepur Division) Naveen Kumar Jha, gave an overview of Indian Railways and made aware the attendees that Indian Railways is the backbone of the country's logistics sector which carries more than 1.2 Billion tonnes of freight traffic every year over a network of 68000 KMs. With their network touching almost every nook and corner of the country, railways play a crucial role in facilitating a balanced and inclusive socio economic development of the country, he said. He added that Railways carry almost all commodities including bulk commodities like Coal, Iron ore, Iron & Steel, Food grains, Cement, Petroleum products, Fertilizer and other commodities carried in containers.

Divisional Railway Manager, Firozpur Division, Seema Sharma, highlighted that Railways are the most environment friendly mode of land transportation . “Trains are not just the safest way to transport freight - they are also green and amongst the most energy efficient modes of transportation” she added. She said that the Railways generate up to 80% less CO2 and consume 75-90% less energy for freight traffic than road transport.

Railways carry a significant amount of nation's freight, reducing Carbon Emissions, saving on Fuel costs, relieving highway congestion. She informed that transporting goods by train also provides benefits to the environment beyond fuel efficiency and sustainability. It reduces supply chain costs, allowing Indian businesses to be more competitive in the global market. Recently, Railways have come up with so many innovations in the logistics sector - Railways have altered the freight scenario of the country but this is yet to reach J&K. She requested the Industrial Associations/Federations/Trade Bodies and the individual Unit holders to take benefits of these innovations.

Industrialists present in the meeting welcomed the initiative by Northern Railways and Department of Industries and Commerce and thanked them for organising the session. They highlighted the challenges being faced by Industry in the region in terms of logistical movement of raw materials and finished goods.

They also requested that the quality of services be upgraded and transit time be reduced by Railways. They also requested that a modernised tracking system be integrated into railway logistics so that Industries are kept apprised of real time tracking of the consignments while in transit. Further, they also requested the Business Development Unit to consider allowing part load and Roll on –Roll Off services for Industrial units.

Additional Divisional Railway Manager, Northern Railways, Baldev Raj ; Senior Divisional Commercial Manager (Freight) Northern Railways (Ferozepur) Vimal Kalra; General Manager, District Industries Centre Samba, Surinder Sharma; Functional Manager, D’te of Industries and Commerce Jammu, Pankaj Sassan , and other senior officers of Industries and Commerce and Railways also were present in the meeting.