Govt to Set Up Railway Corporation for Ports

In order to develop country’s ports, the government plans to set up a Railway Corporation exclusively to build rail connectivity to 12 major ports.

Road Transport, Highways and Shipping Minister Nitin Gadkari said "We are going to set up a Railway Corporation, which can be important for connectivity of ports. Our proposal to the Cabinet is that every port will have some equity in the company,"

Profits earned by ports vary as some have Rs 200 crore in profit while the others have Rs 400 crore, he said, adding that "they will contribute accordingly, it is just a viable way".

Gadkari said shipping sector development would be his utmost priority.

"We want to give the highest priority to shipping sector. We have already taken a decision that we are going to increase the capacity of our ports," he said.

India has 12 major ports - Kandla, Mumbai, JNPT, Marmugao, New Mangalore, Cochin, Chennai, Ennore, V O Chidambarnar, Visakhapatnam, Paradip and Kolkata (including Haldia) which handle approximately 61 per cent of the country's total cargo traffic.