Stakeholders give thumbs down to road-railers

Led by large-scale leather and heavy engineering clusters, Vellore district boasts several manufacturing units that send their finished products to Chennai before they are dispatched to various destinations across the country and abroad. 

The railways, which operated a road-railer unit (RRU) between Melpakkam and Katpadi on Wednesday, is soon expected to announce its commercial run between Chennai and Palwal in Haryana. 

Under these circumstances, industrial units in and around Vellore, which now move their cargo from and to Chennai by road, are weighing the pros and cons of the proposed facility. 

However, they feel it would not benefit them unless the railways decide to base their RRUs either at Chennai (Egmore and Central) or Katpadi, which are two major stations. 

Presently, 18 RRUs are parked at Melpakkam, which is situated about 12 km from Arakkonam. “When it is easier to send the goods directly to Chennai by road, why should I take my consignment to Melpakkam to send it by the railer?” wondered a Ranipet-based entrepreneur.

Railway officials said Melpakkam was chosen as it was easy to load lorries onto railers there. However, the entrepreneur, who requested anonymity, said: “The move will be a success only when SR officials decide to park the railers either at Chennai or Katpadi. Until then, the concept will be a waste of stakeholders’ money as no industrialist will be willing to bear the extra cost of transporting to Melpakkam.”

Meanwhile, railway sources admitted that road-railers must get the backing of medium and large-scale industrialists for the concept to be a success. “SR officials must take necessary steps to suit the needs of industrialists,” sources said.