CONCOR moved 6,396 double-stack rake movements in FY2025-26, a 1.5% increase, as India's majority state-owned rail operator pushed deeper into high-capacity container services on the Dedicated Freight Corridor network.

The growth has commercial roots at Jawaharlal Nehru Port (Nhava Sheva). On the 26 May Q4 and full-year results call, then chairman and managing director Sanjay Swarup — succeeded by Ajit Kumar Panda in August — said CONCOR had reached an agreement with PSA's Bharat Mumbai Container Terminal allowing direct double-stack departures from the terminal's DFC-compliant rail yard.

Customs approval now permits domestic and EXIM/cabotage containers to travel on the same train, removing a longstanding operational split that constrained train utilisation. The payoff came quickly: on 21 August, JNPA launched its first long-haul double-stack rake operation on the Dedicated Freight Corridor. Other terminal operators at JN Port have approached CONCOR about similar arrangements, signalling that the PSA deal could become a template rather than a one-off.

Record EXIM throughput

Volume numbers underline the momentum. CONCOR handled 2.85m TEU in H2 FY2025-26 (1 October 2025 to 31 March 2026), split between 2.14m TEU of export-import traffic and 710,940 TEU of domestic boxes. Full-year EXIM throughput reached a record 4.21m TEU, up 8%.

For shippers and forwarders moving cargo through Nhava Sheva, the implications are direct. Double-stack trains roughly double the boxes per rake on DFC infrastructure, improving slot availability and schedule reliability on India's busiest container gateway. For carriers, faster terminal-to-corridor handoffs at PSA Mumbai shorten dwell time before inland legs. For CONCOR, mixed domestic-EXIM trains improve asset economics on lanes where demand for either segment alone might not fill a rake.

Terminal build-out to 100 locations

CONCOR plans to expand its terminal network from 68 locations to 100 by 2028. During H2 FY2025-26, its Mandalgarh terminal in Rajasthan handled its first 90-TEU ISO container train. Terminals at Kadakola, Jajpur and Paradip have also begun contributing traffic. Two new sites on the Western Dedicated Freight Corridor — Salawas, near Jodhpur, and Chharodi, near Ahmedabad — are being developed specifically to support double-stack operations, extending high-capacity rail access deeper into northwest India's manufacturing and agri heartlands.

Reefer volumes are also climbing. Temperature-controlled cargo rose 17% in FY2025-26, and CONCOR expects demand to keep growing in FY2026-27. Its temperature-controlled warehouse at Dadri handled a company-record 2,589 reefer EXIM containers in December, pointing to strengthening cold-chain flows — notably pharmaceuticals and perishables — through the northern inland hub.

Fleet expansion underpins volumes

Equipment capacity is scaling with traffic. As of 31 March, CONCOR operated 104 reachstackers, including five electric units, plus five RTGs, 29 forklifts and 24 shunting locomotives. Another 30 reachstackers are on order from Tractors India Limited (TIL), which manufactures Hyster machines in India. The electric share of the reachstacker fleet, while still small, aligns with terminal operators' broader push to cut scope emissions and operating costs at inland rail yards.

Under its new leadership, CONCOR enters FY2026-27 with record EXIM volumes, an expanding DFC-aligned terminal footprint and growing reefer demand — a combination that points to further double-stack capacity gains on the western corridor in the year ahead.