In the wake of the coronavirus lockdown, the Indian Railways has decided to run time-tabled Parcel Special trains on some routes, to ensure uninterrupted supply of essential items such as medicines, medical equipment, food etc.
Zonal Railways are regularly identifying and notifying routes for these Parcel Special trains. Presently these trains are being operated on 82 routes. These routes have been identified to include:
i) Regular connectivity between major cities of the country, viz Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Bengaluru, and Hyderabad.
ii) Connectivity from state-capitals/important cities to all parts of the state.
iii) Ensuring connectivity to the North-eastern part of the country.
iv) Supply of milk and dairy products from surplus regions (Gujarat, AP) to high demand regions.
v) Supply of other essential items (agricultural inputs, medicines, medical equipment, etc) from producing regions to other parts of the country.
This enhanced running of parcel trains of the Railways is seen in the context to ramping up the freight operations in the country by making efforts to make it faster, customised and profitable for all.
Also, the Minister of Railways and Commerce and Industry recently held a meeting to bring Ecommerce and logistics compes closer to Railways.
Yesterday, as many as 66 Parcel Special trains were run out of which 65 were time-tabled trains. "1,936 tonnes of material was loaded, giving an earning of Rs 57.14 lacs to Railways," read the press note issued by the Indian Railways.
It also informed that the total number of trains run till May 5 are 2,067, out of which 1,988 have been time-tabled trains.
"54,292 Tonnes of consignments have been loaded, and the earnings have been Rs 19.77 crores," the press note read.
( With inputs from ANI )