(THE NEWSMAN OF INDIA)
New Delhi, July 15: Aimed at leveraging Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL)’s
strategic location and Container Corporation of India Limited (CONCOR)’s expertise in logistics, the two companies have signed an agreement to form a Joint Working Group (JWG) named BHELCON, for jointly setting up a Rail-based Logistics Terminal at Haridwar. Significantly, with this, BHEL is making a strategic entry into a new growth area. This terminal will further be developed into a multi-modal-logistics-facility.In addition to meeting BHEL’s own requirements, the terminal will also cater to the large number of industries located in the neighbouring SIIDCUL as well as other industrial clusters in the vicinity of the terminal. These industries stand to benefit immensely as the cost of rail transportation is significantly cheaper than transportation by road. Moreover, BHEL’s Haridwar plant is in close proximity to both the upcoming Eastern and Western Dedicated Freight Corridors and advantageously placed to take benefit of these corridors in future. BHEL has one of its largest manufacturing units at Haridwar, Uttarakhand, since 1967 and now has three manufacturing units and one research centre in the state. The company has embarked upon a transformation journey for ‘Creating BHEL of tomorrow’ and is pursuing various diversification initiatives for increasing non-coal businesses like solar, water, defence, aerospace, electricity storage solutions, e-mobility, railway electrification, etc. Setting up of this multi-modal-logistics-facility would be an entry into the logistics business and an important step benefiting both the organisation as well as the industries of Uttarakhand.CONCOR, under the Ministry of Railways, has a network of 83 terminals located across the length and breadth of the country, owns more than 300 rakes for container transportation.