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Vizagvision :WOOD PULP TRAFFIC SHIFTS FROM ROAD TO RAIL FOLLOWING SOUTH COAST RAILWAY INITIATIVEIn a significant freight business development initiative, South Coast Railway has successfully diverted long-lead imported wood pulp traffic from Road to Rail, opening up a new source of freight loading and revenue. This achieved significant milestone with the first-ever loading of Wood Pulp as a commodity on Indian Railways from Kakinada Port to Bhigwan in Maharashtra. Imported wood pulp has traditionally been transported by road from Kakinada to paper industries in Maharashtra for the past 15 years. Recognizing the potential for shifting this traffic to rail, South Coast Railway engaged with industry representatives and examined the actual loading requirements and tariff structure.It was observed that the actual loadability of wood pulp is around 45–50 tonnes per wagon, whereas the existing railway charging structure was based on 65.1 tonnes per wagon, making rail transportation less competitive compared to road.To address this issue, South Coast Railway held discussions with the industry and submitted a proposal to the Railway Board in July 2026 for suitable rating of Wood Pulp. Based on the proposal, Wood Pulp has now been included as a commodity in the Goods Tariff under Class-110. This led to a considerable reduction in the freight charges for the commodity. This made the transportation more competitive by rail over road.As a result of this tariff rationalization, the 1,061-km long-lead traffic has been successfully diverted from road to rail. The first BOST rake carrying imported wood pulp was loaded today at Kakinada and is moving to Bhigwan in Maharashtra.The freight earning from each rake is approximately ₹40 lakh. South Coast Railway expects to generate around 1.5 lakh tonnes of additional loading per annum, with an estimated annual freight revenue of approximately ₹20 crore from this traffic.The successful diversion of this long-distance traffic from road to rail reflects South Coast Railway’s continued efforts towards customer-oriented freight business development, tariff rationalization and attracting new traffic to the railway system. General Manager, South Coast Railway Shri Sandeep Mathur congratulated Principal Chief Operations Manager Shri Vineet Kumar, Principal Chief Commercial Manager Shri K Sambasiva Rao, DRM/Vijayawada Shri Mohit Sonakiya and the entire team for their concerted efforts in identifying, developing and successfully converting this traffic from road to rail.