The Indian Railways has launched door-to-door delivery services for on-time delivery from Mumbai to Kolkata. An official statement said this will enable efficient handling of goods for faster and on-time delivery. A transit container train service (from Delhi to Kolkata), and operations at an upgraded Railway Goods Shed in Sonik, Uttar Pradesh were also started Tuesday.

Union Railways, Information Technology, and Information Broadcasting Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said these services in line with efforts to improve logistics efficiency. “There are now over 115 Gati Shakti cargo terminals on the Indian Railways network where multi-modal services are provided,” he said adding the Mumbai-Kolkata route will first be saturated, following which it will be expanded to more pairs of cities.

According to official estimates, the Mumbai-Kolkata door-to-door parcel service through railways will be offering a roughly 7.5% cost and almost 30% time saving compared to road. Railway Public Sector Undertaking Container Corporation of India (CONCOR) will ensure last mile delivery by roping in business associates. Customers can book parcels online.

“The parcel service can be availed by retail consumers as well,” Vaishnaw said noting the Indian Railways has been focused on bulk goods till now but focus has recently shifted to increase containerised movement of parcel goods through demand aggregation.

ET reported in January last year that Indian Railways readied a new parcel policy targeting more share of high value goods consignments in the modal mix.

The upgrade of a railway goods shed in Sonik, Uttar Pradesh as Integrated Logistics Hub is aimed at unifying handling, storage and dispatch of goods under one roof. The Delhi–Kolkata route's assured transit container train service is for guaranteeing delivery within 120 hours to recipients, the statement added.