Container Corp. of India Ltd., the state-controlled freight-train operator, plans to spend as much as 30 billion rupees ($670 million) over five years mainly on terminals to expand its network and ease bottlenecks.

“If we are able to provide these facilities, then trade will grow at a much faster rate,” Managing Director Anil K. Gupta, 53, said in an interview yesterday in New Delhi, where the company is based. Plans include the construction of 25 more rail-container terminals and the addition of 20 to 25 trains annually, he said.

Nationwide rail-container traffic has the “potential” to be 50 percent higher if there is improved facilities, Gupta said, as companies including Bridgestone Corp. and Daimler AG build new plants in India, drawn by local demand. Container Corp. has also formed port ventures with partners such as A.P. Moeller- Maersk A/S and DP World Ltd. to tap rising sea-cargo traffic in Asia’s third-largest economy.

“The biggest advantage Container Corp. has compared with others is the infrastructure they are creating,” said Nirmal Shah, an analyst at Alchemy Share & Stock Brokers Ltd. in Mumbai, who has an “accumulate” rating on the stock. “It will take a minimum of 10 years to replicate.”

Container Corp.’s rail operations, which use state-owned Indian Railways’ tracks, predominately focus on hauling shipping containers usually used on vessels. The company has 59 rail- container terminals across the country and owns 220 rakes, or trains fitted with 45 wagons able to carry two containers each.

Container Corp. and other rail companies, such as Gateway Distriparks Ltd.’s Gateway Rail Freight Ltd. and Adani Logistics Ltd., part of the Ahmedabad-based Adani Group., hauled about 3 million standard containers in India in the year ended March. Traffic could have been as much as 4.5 million twenty-foot equivalent units had the proper infrastructure been in place, Gupta said. (Bloomberg)