COVID-19: Amazon ties up with Railways to transport consignments during lockdown
Amazon has prior partnership with Railways and it will now be leveraging the COVID-19 parcel special trains to ship essential goods.
India, one of the leading ecommerce marketplaces in the country has enhanced its partnership with the Indian Railways to transport consignments via rail across the country.
Amazon is leveraging the 'COVID-19 Parcel Special Trains’ introduced by the Indian Railways to ramp up its operations to 55 lanes during the lockdown period, according to a press release issued by the company.
The statement said: This enhanced network will enable sellers in Amazon India’s network to ship their products across the country and keep their businesses running, thereby, allowing people to access a more diverse selection of essential products.
“With the support of COVID-19 Parcel Special trains introduced by the Indian Railways, we are confident that we can further fulfill customer orders with enhanced speed and capacity. We are grateful for this timely decision by the Indian Railways to offer freight movement solutions during these challenging times,” said, Abhinav Singh, Director – Amazon Transportation Services, Amazon India.
In 2019, Amazon India had partnered with Indian Railways for inter-city transportation of e-commerce packages on 13 lanes. Previously, the company had also partnered with the Indian Railways to set up pickup kiosks for customers in Kolkata and Mumbai.
According to the Railways, this partnership will ensure that essential needs of the public across the country are met and fulfilled by Amazon especially during these times of coronavirus.
“This is yet another step towards a long-term partnership between Amazon India and Indian Railways which is focussed on developing the rail network to supplement the road and air networks for transportation of customer packages with improved speed and reliability,” the statement said.
The nationwide lockdown has brought the transport infrastructure across land, rail and air to a halt and now there is talk on how restrictions could be eased.
E-commerce companies in India are also allowed to deliver essential products only.
Edited by Javed Gaihlot