Railway Minister inaugurates first SFTO rake carrying steel coils

Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu has digitally inaugurated the first steel coil-carrying Special Freight Train Operations (SFTO) rake of TM International Logistics Ltd (TMILL) from Rail Bhawan in New Delhi. Present on the occasion were senior officials of the Railway Board, Chairman of TMILL, Managing Directors of TMILL and GATX India Private Limited, among others.

TMILL, a joint venture of Tata Steel, NYK Holding (Europe) BV and IQ Martrade Holding GmbH of Germany, commenced operations with three BFNSM1 rakes. The first rake carrying steel coils departed from Tata Steel’s Jamshedpur plant for Chennai. These rakes will also be deployed for carrying finished steel products from Tata Steel’s Kalinganagar plant in Odisha. TMILL has leased the rakes from GATX India Private Limited, a leading global railcar lessor.

SFTO is a policy initiative of Indian Railways to encourage private investment in rolling stock. Under this policy, TMILL has been granted a 20-year license as of September 2016 by Indian Railways to invest in/lease rakes for movement of finished steel products. The BFNSM1 Rakes (22.9-tonne axle load) can carry 2750 tonnes of steel coils per rake and offer a competitive alternative to freight movement by road.

Besides significant reduction in overall logistics cost, the SFTO scheme offers several other benefits. Under this scheme, private companies investing in wagons will get a 12 per cent rebate on freight. The rakes have to run between two pre-determined origin and destination points with both having private siding/freight terminals.