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Old 10th December 2019, 15:12   #1
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Road trains to be allowed in India on select routes

Road trains to be allowed in India on select routes-road_train.jpg
While road trains in other countries are long, the transport ministry has put the limit on length considering Indian traffic conditions even on expressways.

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NEW DELHI: The government has decided to allow introduction of “road trains” on select routes and between identified points to encourage multi-container transport on the road in its bid to reduce logistics cost. This mode of transporting freight is popular in countries including Australia, United States and in Europe to move huge quantity of cargo.

The transport ministry’s draft rule specifying the length, height and width for road trans comes at a time when the Centre is putting more focus on building 2,500 km of greenfield expressways like the Delhi-Mumbai corridor and even state governments are constructing more such roads. The NHAI has also been tasked to take up building “economic corridors” on priority, which would connect major manufacturing hubs.

According to the draft notification, the length of road trains will be 25 metres and there will be a limit of three trailers being pulled by a truck. “This will meet our requirement as we start developing more logistic hubs along the major road corridors. While the road rail can move bulk cargo from one point to other, normal or smaller vehicles can be used to transport cargo from the major logistics hubs to destinations,” said an official.

He added that while road trains in other countries are long, the transport ministry has put the limit on length considering Indian traffic conditions even on expressways.

The transport ministry has also proposed changes in the dimensions of other vehicles including buses and small trucks. Considering that smaller or mini-trucks topple in some cases because of faulty height, the ministry has proposed reducing the height to 3 metres from the current 3.8 metres.

“The dimensions, particularly the height of the trucks has been specifically proposed to be amended to encourage containerized transport. The new norm would be 4 metres and similarly, the height of the buses will be increased to 4 metres except in the case of airport passenger bus. These are in line with global standards. In the case of buses that ply on long routes, the length would be increased to 13.5 metres from the current 12 metres,” said an official. This will increase 2-4 seats .

In another move, the height of double decker and sleeper coach buses would also be increased to 4 metres, which will give more space to the passengers for a comfortable ride.
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Old 10th December 2019, 16:19   #2
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Re: Road trains to be allowed in India on select routes

Whats happened to common sense in India? I think the weed sale in Delhi is at an all time high.

These are absolutely unusable in India, with our infrastructure, imagine two of these travelling at 31 and 32 kms respectively even on a good highway.
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Old 10th December 2019, 16:28   #3
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Re: Road trains to be allowed in India on select routes

Even a 4 lane road won't be enough for this! Already you have trucks hogging the fast lane this train will make it a mess and one can't overtake and will die of frustration before reaching the destination! Stupid move!
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Old 10th December 2019, 16:56   #4
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Re: Road trains to be allowed in India on select routes

Although the intentions are good (to reduce logistics cost), the current road network can't simply accommodate this. Government should first get the basics right (get the road network upto international standards) before trying this, as they said "popular international mode of transport". Of course in Australia they do ply on single lane roads but you don't get to see any traffic for hours.

I am happy that this won't become a reality atleast in Kerala since we don't have wide roads here .
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Old 10th December 2019, 17:19   #5
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Re: Road trains to be allowed in India on select routes

Positives : Overloading should ideally go down and hence weight per axle might be reduced eliminating damage to roads.
Negatives : Additional trailers are likely to be (anticipation from current state of affairs) overloaded aggravating damage to road. Struggling trucks and one road train overtaking another road train = a time disaster as both will be slow.
Overall, not a good decision. Dedicated Freight Corridor should be reducing truck traffic on highways then why this proposal for road trains ? Majority of freight movement by rail is definitely more efficient IMO.

Last edited by aaggoswami : 10th December 2019 at 17:21.
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Old 10th December 2019, 18:13   #6
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Re: Road trains to be allowed in India on select routes

I like the fact that they are considering allowing these in India...

However, like all things done here - this too is being tightly controlled with over regulation. Ideally the route choice, road viability should all be left to the operator to figure it out.

No operator will act like a fool with multi-million rupee investment that he will make in these to allow these to run on roads not suited for these. So there is no sense in trying to define the route on which these should be allowed to run.

We should just fine the errant ones if they cause any loss or damage to the infra or any other sort of mishap happens due to them. Put laws in place to charge heavy fines and seize the vehicle if the need be. Leave the operations and feasibility upto the owner.

-Sunil
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Old 10th December 2019, 18:38   #7
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Re: Road trains to be allowed in India on select routes

From my personal experience -

Have seen the turbine blades (of windmills) carried by trailers - the blades are huge and stick out of the trailer for quite a distance. They were at least four to five car lengths long = ~20 metres?

Have seen them travelling three at a time - which is the number of blades per windmill.

If they can negotiate our roads - for installations in some remote locations without proper connectivity - why can't road rails be allowed on good roads - like golden quadrilateral?

Of course, lane hogging, overtaking maneuver, break-downs etc. will test the patience of other road users. But, hey, the infrastructure is meant for all citizens, right?

Last edited by vrprabhu : 10th December 2019 at 18:39. Reason: Just a posterity remark - that was my 999th post :-)
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Old 10th December 2019, 20:25   #8
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Re: Road trains to be allowed in India on select routes

This will be such a disaster.

Given how unscientific our roads are; be it the gradient in ghats, the speed-breakers and turns (banking), these ultra-long vehicles will struggle. Their suffering will then extend to other road users. While the intention might be positive, it is completely impractical and un-researched.
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Old 10th December 2019, 20:52   #9
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Re: Road trains to be allowed in India on select routes

We allowed Rickshaw, Quadricycles, Bullock Carts, Tuktuk, with the limitation of not allowed on national highways. But where is the control now, we see them everywhere, outnumbering every other vehicle, creating, menace, accidents, traffic bottlnecks. These things ply on National Highways with pride.

Now allowing trailer in limited section. Who will control it? do not bring anything new to already problematic situation.
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Old 10th December 2019, 21:04   #10
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Re: Road trains to be allowed in India on select routes

They should be equipped with under run protection bars, equipped with a number of warning lights and reflectors if at all they enter our highways. If not, then I'm afraid these truck trains too will add to a number of catastrophic incidents in future.
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Old 10th December 2019, 21:17   #11
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Re: Road trains to be allowed in India on select routes

I invite everyone to get a hang of the difficulties involved in driving these road trains on "Outback Truckers" on Netflix. Road trains in Australia coordinate with other road users via CB radio when they need to overtake someone, or when someone else needs to overtake them. They cannot brake for saving a life and may require stopping distances of a Kilometre or more. Australia doesn't permit them to ply on certain urban areas/provinces.

Personally, I've seen shorter roadtrains (mostly Walmart's) on Interstate highways in the US. Those only had a 1+1 carriage structure and the US anyway has excellent straight, divided interstate highways...
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Old 10th December 2019, 22:44   #12
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Re: Road trains to be allowed in India on select routes

Quote:
Originally Posted by 2000rpm View Post
Whats happened to common sense in India? I think the weed sale in Delhi is at an all time high.
Exactly my reaction!

Who's going to drive them? Our truck drivers cannot stick to their lanes when driving a 10-tonne 6-wheeler, and here we expect them to drive road trains. No one thought of revamping the DL testing system to train people like this, did they? I'm sure not.

One more good way to reduce the population burden of the country, I suppose.
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Old 11th December 2019, 01:01   #13
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Re: Road trains to be allowed in India on select routes

Godspeed for other drivers who will be sharing the roads with these truckers if this is implemented. Road trains are used in AU to reach remote mines/farms. They mostly run on desolate rural roads.

Reasons why this won't work in India:
1. Our drivers are poorly trained
2. We don't have empty highways like the ones in AU
3. Labour is cheap in India
4. Fuel Guzzling powerful trucks is going to be a significant infrastructure investment which will not be made
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Old 11th December 2019, 08:19   #14
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Re: Road trains to be allowed in India on select routes

Mod Note: Thread moved to the Commercial Vehicle section. Thanks for sharing!
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Old 11th December 2019, 08:25   #15
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Re: Road trains to be allowed in India on select routes

The traffic at Amrutanjan bridge on the Mumbai Pune expressway is so chaotic with trucks at 30 kmph trying to overtake other trucks at 20 kmph

I hope common sense prevails and this gets scrapped.

Last edited by jayeshdamle : 11th December 2019 at 08:26. Reason: typo
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