New Delhi [India], Mar 26 : The Central Railway on Thursday said that it has deployed staff at various good sheds, stations and control offices and is working on 24/7 basis to ensure that the supply of essential items does not gets affected during the situation of lockdown in various states.
Due to the pandemic of corona virus, Railways has suspended the operations of passenger train services across the country till April 14. Currently, Railways is operating only freight trains across the country.
"Central Railway is making all efforts to ensure availability of essential commodities through its uninterrupted freight services. The total tonnage of all these freight during the four days (March 22 to March 25) is approximately 5.66 lakh tonnes (0.56Million Tonnes). In terms of wagons it is 9,837 wagons," said Central Railway in a press release.
Coal was the bulk one which was loaded in 102 rakes for power plants at Parli, Nashik, Paras, Koradi and Mouda in Maharashtra and Sar and Singaji in Madhya Pradesh. Nagpur ran 100 rakes and two from Mumbai.
Petrol, Oil and Lubricants (POL) & LPG was carried in 17 rakes for supply to various destinations like Gaigaon, Khapari, Tadli etc. Bhusaval alone ran 13 rakes. It also ran one full rake of onions .
Out of 57 rakes of container traffic Mumbai alone accounted for 46 rakes. All the six rakes of fertilizer originated from Mumbai Division dispatched to North and South part of India.
"Freight movement is being closely monitored by officials at very senior level. Central Railway understands its crucial role during this difficult time and requests all the stakeholders to fully support in this endeavor," said Central Railway.
( With inputs from ANI )