Laloo puts out bulk rebate sop to woo freight

In a bid to woo freight traffic back to tracks from the road sector, Railway Minister Laloo Prasad Yadav today announced a 20 per cent rebate on bulk commodities transported in the empty-flow direction so that rakes do not return empty. And 15 per cent concession during the slack season from July to September, on incremental loading.

At a seminar on ‘‘Dedicated Railway Freight Corridor’’, Laloo said that for a jumbo rake, the free time for loading and unloading has been raised from eight hours to nine hours, for unloading tank wagons from five to seven hours and for mechanised unloading from five to six hours.