Gateway Rail Freight (GRFL), subsidiary of Gateway Distriparks (GDL) announced setting up of its fourth Inland Container Depot (ICD) at Viramgam, near Ahmedabad in Gujarat. This terminal will be on the confluence point of the two double stack routes between its flagship hub at Garhi Harsaru in Gurgaon (Haryana) and two main ports on the west coast at Mundra and Pipavav in Gujarat.

The company will soon start construction of railway siding and its container yard. It is expected to be operational within a year. The company has received the necessary regulatory approvals from Western Railway.

Prem Kishan Gupta, chairman and managing director of Gateway Rail and its promoter company GDL said, "We are committed to cater to the inter-modal service requirements of the containerised maritime trade of India and will continue to focus on our strong infrastructure base and reliable services supported by innovative IT backbone to ensure reliable logistics service to our customers."

"This will be our fourth ICD and will provide world class service to Gujarat trade besides our cost optimisation efforts by way of double stack operations between Garhi and Viramgam terminal," he added.

Gateway Rail has acquired 35 acres of land for developing the second hub for its container train services. The railway hub terminal will be built over 25 acres of land and initially will have a capacity to handle two trains simultaneously.

The terminal will have a capacity to handle 150,000 twenty foot equivalent unit (TEUs) annually. The balance 10 acre land will be used for developing an ICD to cater to the needs of Gujarat trade.

The terminal will cater to the need of Ahmedabad, Sanand, Mehsana and Becharaji EXIM market by providing ICD services such as customs clearance and storage of cargo.

Shares of the company gained Rs 2.85, or 0.86%, to trade at Rs 334.25. The total volume of shares traded was 5,094 at the BSE (1.22 p.m., Monday).