There is a huge demand for transportation services in India. The reason being the huge population and this requires continuous and seamless movement of goods from one place to another to cater to the needs and demands of the mammoth population.
There are various modes of transport for the movement of goods that include – road transportation, air transportation, and ship transportation. Based on the source, destination, and type of goods, the mode of transportation is selected. In this article, we will be discussing the train transportation business. What all the things that have to be considered when starting with the train transportation business?
Railway offers this business on a lease basis and you can kick start the business by taking some amount of portion of the lease offered by the railway or you can work with the full amount of lease.
If you are opting to go with the full lease offered by the railways, then you can easily provide full load and multiple load services and earn a good amount of profits. You can start with the train transportation business with the above two options i.e. part lease option and the full lease option.
Some trains are run especially for the movement of the goods while certain other trains provide only one or two coaches for the goods. These kinds of coaches are called SLR (Seating cum luggage rake) and LPH.
Now it all depends on what kind of goods movement you are planning to do. Say e.g. if you are planning the movement of coal, then you need to go for a goods train that is a box wagon train. There are various types of box wagon trains that include an open wagon, close wagon, container wagon, hopper wagon, well wagon, and tank wagon.
Become A Contractor In Indian Railway
From the employment perspective, the Indian railway is a big platform. The nongovernment sector works with the railway via tenders. Say e.g. for goods, services, bidding, auction, etc. railway transpires 20% of its work from a small contractor or service provider, which is mandatory for the railways. Even a common man can work with the railways on these assignments as a vendor, or as a supplier, or as a contractor. For becoming a vendor you need to do registration with RDSO – Research designs and standards organization.
You will get complete information about the various tenders of Indian railways in their website portal www.iresp.com. By following laid down rules and regulations you can start with the work.
The tenders of the railways are divided into 3 categories – A) Work tender B) Goods services supplier and C) Auction
Goods and Services: In the Goods and services category mostly the work of supply is being transpired say e.g. housekeeping, gardening, and computer operator. Under the auction category, the tender is raised on lease e.g. parking, catering, and tourism. Apart from that, you can take the job of supplying the spare parts that are used in railways. Or you can take the job of constructing some design model for railways e.g. bridge, platform, or lighting.
Required Assets Tender
GST: Bidders should have a valid GST registration number and should meet all the legal documents and declarations as required by the Indian railways to avail railway tender and do train transport business. GST registration is a must for all railway business.
PAN No.: The bidders are required to furnish the copies of the PAN card along with the earnest money that is supposed to be deposited with the tender.
Digital Signature: Digital signature is a scheme that is used for verifying the authenticity of digital messages or documents that include email, credit cards transaction, or any digital document. They are more secure than other forms of electronic signatures. You must have a digital signature when availing tender or train transport business from Indian railway.
Vendor Registration at RDSO: The vendors need to register with the RDSO when doing the train transport business or getting an Indian railway tender. It can be done online by following the specified process.
Luggage Parcel by Indian Railway
If we talk of parceling of the luggage then this can be done via Indian railways. For this railway has given the facility of good transportation. By following the transportation guidelines the movement of the goods can be done.
You must pack the goods on your own. Pack the goods based on the nature of the goods because the movement of goods in the railway is not similar to the movement of goods in road transportation. Because of lack of time, loading and unloading of goods are done in a fast and swift manner. So the goods must be packed perfectly and correctly.
It is important to mention the important details of the goods. Details that include information of consignee, source- destination, address, contact no, etc should be mentioned without fail.
After weighing the goods get the original Bilty. Now comes the turn of forwarding note where you need to fill up the information based on the direction and attach the copy of any ID proof. Apart from that log in to the official website and track and understand the movement of your parcel.
