Amazon India has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Ministry of Indian Railways, reinforcing its ongoing partnership aimed at better transportation of customer packages through the country’s rail network.
The new agreement focuses on developing a hub-and-spoke model for one origin-destination pair, which will be used to gather insights for potential expansion across the railway network. The plan includes addressing first and last-mile logistics, transit times, cost considerations, and policy requirements to optimize the movement of parcels via rail. Amazon will provide input on the operational needs necessary to establish a more reliable distribution network tailored to the demands of the e-commerce sector.
Since its initial engagement with Indian Railways, Amazon has scaled its operations from a single train in 2019 to over 120 trains in 2024, covering 130 intercity routes across 91 destination cities. This expansion has been critical in enabling Amazon to fulfill its 1-day and 2-day delivery promises to customers across India.
In 2023, Amazon further advanced its collaboration by becoming the first e-commerce logistics company to utilize Dedicated Freight Corridors. These corridors are intended to alleviate congestion on the existing rail network, enhance the speed of freight trains, and provide more efficient connections between ports and industrial areas.
