Indian Railways introduces 109 Time tabled parcel trains over 58 routes to connect all the important centers

In a major boost to the supply chain across the country, Indian Railways has introduced  unhindered services of Time tabled Parcel Trains for nationwide transportation of essential commodities and other goods. This is expected to boost the availability of vital goods required for ordinary citizens, industry and agriculture.

Approximately, 58 routes (109 trains) for Parcel Special Trains have been notified since the start of the lock-down. Till 5th April 2020, 27 routes were notified, out of which 17 routes were regular scheduled services, while the remaining were for single trip only.Subsequently, 40 new routes have been identified and notified (and frequency of some of the previous routes has been increased). With this almost all the important cities of India will get connected for transportation of vital goods at a fast speed. It may be noted that these services are expected to be further scaled up.

Time Tabled Parcel Trains are planned as per the demand of the customers. Time tabled Parcel trains connect vital corridors 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.

Indian Railways has also been running other Parcel trains as per demand of customers during this period – which include:

  1. ‘Milk Specials’ from Palanpur (Gujarat) to Palwal (near Delhi), and from Renigunta (AP) to Delhi
  2. Milk products from Kankariya (Gujarat) to Kanpur (UP) and Sankrail (near Kolkata)
  3. Food products from Moga (Punjab) to Changsari (Assam)

Time Tabled Parcel Trains are being run even on those routes where demand is less, so that no part of the country remains unconnected. Some trains are being run with only 2 Parcel Vans, or with 1 Parcel Van and Brake Van.

These Parcel Trains introduced in wake of COVID-19 pandemic over different zones are as under:

S.No.ZonePairs of Parcel Special Trains
1WR12 pairs
2CR07 pairs
3WCR05 pairs
4NR08 pairs
5NWR01 pair
6SR/SWR10 pairs
7SCR05 pairs
8SER03 pairs
9SECR04 pairs
10NCR01 pair
11ECoR02 pairs
12NER01 pair
13ER07 pairs
14ECR01 pair

(This information is till the morning of 8th April, and is likely to be revised upwards regularly.)

LIST OF ROUTES

S.No.FROMTOParcel Train No.
 CENTRAL RAILWAY
1Chhatrapati Shivaji TerminusNagpur00109
NagpurChhatrapati Shivaji Terminus00110
2Chhatrapati Shivaji TerminusWadi00111
WadiChhatrapati Shivaji Terminus00112
3Chhatrapati Shivaji TerminusShalimar00113
ShalimarChhatrapati Shivaji Terminus00114
4Chhatrapati Shivaji TerminusMadras00115
MadrasChhatrapati Shivaji Terminus00116
5ChangsariKalyan00104
 EASTERN RAILWAY
1HowrahNew Delhi00309
New DelhiHowrah00310
2SealdahNew Delhi00311
New DelhiSealdah00312
3SealdahGuwahati00313
GuwahatiSealdah00314
4HowrahGuwahati00303
GuwahatiHowrah00304
5HowrahJamalpur00305
JamalpurHowrah00306
6SealdahMalda Town00315
Malda TownSealdah00316
7HowrahChhatrapati Shivaji Terminus00307
Chhatrapati Shivaji TerminusHowrah00308
 EAST CENTRAL RAILWAY
1Deen Dayal Upadhyaya JunctionSaharsa00302
SaharsaDeen Dayal Upadhyaya Junction00301
  EAST COAST RAILWAY
1VisakhapatnamCuttack00532
CuttackVisakhapatnam00531
2VisakhapatnamSambalpur00530
SambalpurVisakhapatnam00529
  NORTHERN RAILWAY
1New DelhiGuwahati00402
GuwahatiNew Delhi00401
2AmritsarHowrah00464
HowrahAmritsar00463
3DelhiJammu Tawi00403
Jammu TawiDelhi00404
4KalkaAmbala00454
AmbalaKalka00453
5DehradunDelhi00434
DelhiDehradun00433
  NORTH CENTRAL RAILWAY
1PrayagrajJhansi00436
JhansiPrayagraj00435
  NORTH EASTERN RAILWAY
1ManduadihKathgodam00501
KathgodamManduadih00502
  NORTH EAST FRONTIER RAILWAY
1New GuwahatiAgartala 
 NORTH WESTERN RAILWAY
1Jaipur-Rewari-Jodhpur-Ajmer-Jaipur00951
2Jaipur-Ajmer-Jodhpur-Rewari-Jaipur00952
 SOUTHERN RAILWAY
1MadrasNew Delhi00646
New DelhiMadras00647
2MadrasCoimbatore00653
CoimbatoreMadras00654
3Chennai EgmoreNagercoil00657
NagercoilChennai Egmore00658
4ThiruvananthapuramKozhikode00655
KozhikodeThiruvananthapuram00656
 SOUTH CENTRAL RAILWAY
1SecundrabadHowrah 
HowrahSecundrabad 
2ReniguntaSecundrabad00769
SecundrabadRenigunta00770
3ReniguntaSecundrabad00767
SecundrabadRenigunta00768
4KakinadaSecundrabad00765
SecundrabadKakinada00766
5ReniguntaNizamuddin00761 (MILK)
 SOUTH EASTERN RAILWAY
1ShalimarRanchi00801
RanchiShalimar00802
2ShalimarChangsari00803
ChangsariShalimar00804
 SOUTH EAST CENTRAL RAILWAY
1DurgChhapra00875
ChhapraDurg00876
2DurgAmbikapur00873
AmbikapurDurg00874
3DurgKorba00871
KorbaDURG00872
4ItwariTATA00881
TataItwari00882
SOUTH WESTERN RAILWAY
1YesvantpurGorakhpur00607
GorakhpurYesvantpur00608
2YesvantpurNizamuddin00605
NizamuddinYesvantpur00606
3YesvantpurHowrah00603
HowrahYesvantpur00604
4GuwahatiYesvantpur00610
WESTERN RAILWAY
1Bandra TerminusLudhiana00901
LudhianaBandra Terminus00902
2MadrasKankaria00908
3AhmedabadGuwahati00915
GuwahatiAhmedabad00916
4SuratBhagalpur00917
BhagalpurSurat00918
5Mumbai CentralFerozpur00911
FerozpurMumbai Central00912
6PorbandarShalimar00913
ShalimarPorbandar00914
7LinchSalchapra00909
SalchapraLinch00910
8BhujDadar00924
DadarBhuj00925
9Bandra TerminusOkha00921
OkhaBandra Terminus00920
WEST CENTRAL RAILWAY
1BhopalGwalior 
GwaliorBhopal 
2ItarsiBina 
BinaItarsi 
3BhopalKhandwa 
KhandwaBhopal 
4RewaAnooppur 
AnooppurRewa 
5RewaSingrauli 
SingrauliRewa 
Total Routes: 58

So far, approximately 32 pairs of parcel special have been notified as inter-Railway (long distance), while the remaining are intra-Railway (short distance).

Some of the longer routes for these Parcel Special trains are:

  1. Kalyan – Santragachi
  2. Kalyan – Changsari
  3. New Delhi – Chennai
  4. Salem – Bhatinda
  5. Salem – Hisar
  6. Yeswanthpur – HazratNizamuddin
  7. Yeswanthpur – Howrah
  8. Yeswanthpur – Gorakhpur
  9. Yeswanthpur – Guwahati
  10. hmedabad – Guwahati
  11. Karambeli – Changsari
  12. Kankariya – Sankrail

The facility of transporting parcels through these trains can be availed by any person or company. As per the available trends, following goods are being transported across the length and breadth of the country:

  1. Perishables (including eggs, fruits, vegetables, fish)
  2. Medicines, medical equipment, masks
  3. Milk and Dairy product
  4. Seeds (for agricultural use)
  5. Other general goods such as E-Commerce consignments, packaged food items, books, stationary, packing material, etc

Trains have been given en-route stoppages at all feasible locations, so that maximum possible clearance of parcels may be done.Zonal Railways are publishing the time-tables of these trains in leading newspapers. In addition, regular customers and government agencies are also being contacted.


Source: PIB | Image Credit: MoR-Twitter