63 Railway routes identified for Parcel Special Trains for commodities

Close coordination is being maintained with the Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers for the movement and availability of fertilizers for the upcoming Kharif season.

In order to ensure that Kitchens of all Indian homes continue to run normally and farmers in agriculture sector continue to get all necessary inputs for farming, during last 12 days from 1st April to 12th April 2020, Railways loaded and carried 36724 wagons of foodgrain, 861 wagons of sugar, 1753 wagons of salt, 606 wagons/tanks of edible oil and 14317 wagons of fertilizers (One wagon contains 58-60 ton consignment).

These efforts have been made to ensure that farm products like food grains, sugar, salt, and edible oil are picked up on time and also to ensure timely supply of an adequate quantity of fertilizers to farmers during the nationwide lockdown due to COVID-19. The loading, transportation, and unloading of these essential commodities have been in progress in full swing during the first 12 days of April 2020.

Close coordination is being maintained with the Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers for the movement and availability of fertilizers for the upcoming Kharif season. Close association is being maintained with the Ministry of agriculture for foodgrains loading.

Indian Railways has also identified 63 routes for Parcel Special Trains since the start of the lockdown for perishable commodities including fruits, vegetables, milk, and dairy products and seeds for agriculture purposes. Till13th April, 63 routes have been notified and timetabled trains are being run on these routes.

The Parcel Specials have been planned to connect all the major cities of the country, viz Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Hyderabad, and Bengaluru. In addition, proper connectivity has also been ensured to Guwahati, to ensure supplies in the North-eastern region of the country. Other important cities connected via these trains are Bhopal, Allahabad, Dehradun, Varanasi, Ahmedabad, Vadodara, Ranchi, Gorakhpur, Thiruvananthapuram, Salem, Warangal, Vijayawada, Vishakhapatanam, Rourkela, Bilaspur, Bhusawal, Tatanagar, Jaipur, Jhansi, Agra, Nasik, Nagpur, Akola, Jalgaon, Surat, Pune, Raipur, Patna, Asansol, Kanpur, Jaipur, Bikaner, Ajmer, Gwalior, Mathura, Nellore, Jabalpur, etc.

Trains are being run even on those routes where demand is less so that no part of the country remains unconnected. Trains have been given en-route stoppages at all feasible locations, so that maximum possible clearance of parcels may be done.

All the State Mission Directors and Concerned Secretaries of States/UTs have been requested to mobilize all their resources to take advantage of these trains being run by Railways. Addl. Member (Commercial) Railway Board has offered that if they receive any demand from States regarding new routes or stoppage, they will immediately take necessary action to do needful.

A list of all Pr CCMs/ Chief Commercial Managers of different zones, the procedure of booking, time table of these Special Trains and a freight calculator have also been shared with all the officers for sharing and wider publicity.

(With Inputs from PIB)