New Delhi, Jan. 22 -- Indian Railways has formally launched the 'Trucks-on-Trains' service, also called ToT, as part of its Dedicated Freight Corridor program, and widely known as DFC. It aims shift in the transportation industry, focusing entirely on speedy, eco-friendly, and efficient freight transport.
The Indian Rail Ministry confirmed on Thursday that the new service model was conceptualised to boost the Indian economy in various ways, including reducing highway traffic congestion, fuel consumption, and pollution.
The service offered by the ToT service combines the practicality of road freight and the clean and green efficiency of an electrified rail system designed and developed as part of the DFC project. In this system, the loaded vehicles will travel along the DFC in specially adapted flatcars for the long haul, avoiding the highways. Then the trucks take over for the small distance involved in the initial and final mile.
Currently, the railway service is operational from New Rewari in the Western Dedicated Freight Corridor to New Palanpur. The freight corridor is approximately 636 kilometres in distance and has reduced the transit time for end-to-end freight transport from 30 hours by land to 12 hours by rail. The move aims to enhance dependability and speed up freight services, protecting the freight from various uncertainties while in transit.
The freight charges applicable include a flat fee of Rs 25,543 per wagon for trucks carrying goods up to 25 tonnes, Rs 29,191 for carrying goods in the range of 25-45 tonnes, and 32,000 for the range of 45-58 tonnes. The freight applicable for the transportation of empty trucks stands at Rs 21,894 per wagon. To help the dairy industry thrive, milk tankers are exempt from GST. Booking of Open Indent has commenced since January 2024 for increased flexibility for the customers.
The ToT service from April to December 2025 has moved a total of 545 rakes and received over 300,000 tonnes of freight, earning a revenue of Rs 36.95 crore in the process. Here's a breakdown of what has been moved through this service: 273 rakes moved through New Palanpur have earned over 200,000 tonnes and Rs 20.18 crore in revenue, whereas 272 rakes via New Rewari have earned 100,000 tonnes and Rs 16.76 crore in revenue. Freight has been strong for western freight terminals in India, especially in terms of demand for freight moving in the dairy and FMCG segments. One major player in this area has been Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation, or Amul. Officials highlighted that shifting freight from roads to rails not only relieves traffic on highways, but it also leads to savings of diesel as well as carbon emissions into the atmosphere.
"As many as 48,875 trucks on the Palanpur-Rewari route have been taken off the highways, which results in savings of nearly 8.88 million litres of diesel, apart from more than 230 million kilograms of CO2 not entering the atmosphere."
Ever since its inception, Trucks-on-Trains has completed over 1,955 trips, moving over a million tonnes of freight and earning revenues of over Rs 131 crore. Indian Railways has announced that a new haulage of freight has been added to the ToT services as fresh designs have been developed for the wagons. ToT has become a conduit for Indian Railways' multimodal freight plan.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.