New Door‑to‑Door Freight & Parcel Services Launched by Railways

The Railways Minister, Ashwini Vaishnaw, has virtually inaugurated three new door‑to‑door freight and parcel services aimed at enhancing India’s logistics ecosystem. These services mark a strategic move by Indian Railways to become more competitive in goods movement by improving last‑mile connectivity, reducing dependency on road transport, and lowering costs for shippers.

What Are the New Services

The three services launched are,

• Assured Transit Container Service (Delhi → Kolkata): A time‑bound container train service to provide reliable transit between national capitals, linking Delhi with Kolkata.
• Door‑to‑Door Parcel Service (Mumbai → Kolkata): Utilizing railway parcel vans, this service collects parcels from origin addresses and delivers directly to the destination address, bypassing intermediate handling.
• Railway Goods Sheds as Integrated Logistics Hub: Selected goods sheds will be upgraded and integrated into the logistics network to act as multimodal hubs—serving as nodes for collection, distribution, and transshipment.

These initiatives aim to make rail-based logistics more door‑centric and reduce reliance on road transport for first/last-mile segments

Static Facts

• The three new services are: (i) Assured Transit Container Service Delhi → Kolkata, (ii) Door-to-Door parcel service Mumbai → Kolkata, and (iii) Railway goods sheds upgraded into logistics hubs
• The parcel service claims 7.5% cost saving and 30% speed gain compared to road-only movement
• The services are integrated with CONCOR (Container Corporation of India Ltd.) in collaboration with railways