By Bizodisha Bureau, Bhubaneswar, November 2, 2015 : The Dhamra Port Company Limited (DPCL), a wholly owned subsidiary of Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone Limited (APSEZ), signed a commercial agreement with union ministry of railways here at the East Coast Railway (ECoR) headquarters.

The agreement accords the status of Non-Government Railways (NGR) to DPCL under the Indian Railway Act, 1989. This is the first of its kind NGR status granted in Odisha and only the second one in the country.

DPCL opted for the scheme and constructed 62.5 kms of railway line. This is the longest ever NGR constructed by any private organization. NGR Policy promulgated by the union government is a new concept promoted by the Indian
Railway to encourage its strategic partners like port and industries to invest in creating additional railway infrastructure as a result, the connectivity to hinterland can be extended to major railway network.

India had a track length of only 50,000 kilometres at the time of independence. Since independence, the country has managed to add nearly 20,000 track kilometres only. Since railway connectivity is crucial to the economic development of the country, the Centre came forward with a plan under “Participatory Policy for Capacity Augmentation and Increasing Rail connectivity” in Public Private Partnership (PPP) mode.

Dhamra Port is expecting to increase its capacity to more than 100 MMT per annum in the next couple of years by doubling the Railway line and completing its second phase of expansion.

The agreement was signed by Subrat Tripathy, Director and Chief Executive Officer of DPCL and P.C.Sahu, Chief Commercial Manager, Freight Service, East Coast Railway, Bhubaneswar respectively.