Western Railway flags off its first Kisan Rail from Laxmibai Nagar to New Guwahati

In a unique initiative to help farmers to send their perishable agro products to inter-state markets without any delay, the first ever Kisan Rail Parcel special train of Western Railway was flagged off from Laxmibai Nagar near Indore to New Guwahati by Hon’ble Member of Parliament Shri Shankar Lalwani o­n 24th November, 2020 in the presence of various dignitaties along with Divisional Railway Manager of Ratlam Division.

  • Shri Alok Kansal- General Manager of Western Rly has taken keen interest in this regard & has paved way for suitable implementation of this initiative, with his able guidance & support.
  • This train No 00907/00908 Laxmibai Nagar – New Guwahati Kisan Rail is a weekly special train which will depart from  Laxmibai Nagar station at 15.00 hrs every Tuesday and will reach New Guwahati at 15.25 hrs every Thursday.  
  • Similarly, Train No. 00908 New Guwahati – Laxmibai Nagar Specialwill depart from New Guwahati at 22.00 hrs every Thursday from 26th Nov, 2020 and will arrive Laxmibai Nagar at 22.15 hrs o­n Saturday. 
  • This is the first of its kind weekly Kisan parcel special train to run by WR between Laxmibai Nagar and New Guwahati, which will run upto February 2021.
  • According to a press release issued by Shri Sumit Thakur- Chief Public Relations Officer of Western Rly, Kisan Rail will help in transporting agricultural produce, especially perishable commodities, at cheaper rates and aid farmers in getting the right price for their crops. 
  • The weekly train will provide seamless connectivity among farmers, markets and consumers. All the required measures have been taken to safely transport perishable vegetables and fruits.
  • Any farmer, or any other interested party, can directly book their consignments o­n this train without any lower limit o­n the size of the consignment. 
  • The consignment can be as small as 50-100 kgs, and can be booked from any stopping station to any other stopping station. 

About Kisan Rail:

  • Shri Thakur stated that the Kisan Rail is a part of the Central Government’s commitment to increase the income of farmers. 
  • It was announced to run the Kisan Rail in the 2020-21 budget, in which perishable agricultural products like vegetables and fruits can be transported in a short time from o­ne city to another.
  • Looking at the commercial demand for transportation of o­nion and Potatoes, as well as perishable fruits and vegetables, it was decided to run ‘Kisan Rail’ special train, under the Operation Green as a part of Aatmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan.It will greatly benefit the farmers as they can transport their farm produce at 50% subsidy provided by MoFPI. 
  • It is worth mentioning that despite toughest challenges during corona lockdown, Western Railway has been running various parcel special trains to transport several types of commodities, in addition to the milk special trains. 
  • In continuation to these efforts, now WR has started to run its first Kisan parcel special train between Laxmibai Nagar near Indoreand New Guwahati. 
  • The first trip of this Kisan Rail departed from Lakshmi Nagar o­n 24th November, 2020 carrying 180 Tonnes of o­nions. 
  • The train comprised a total of 20 coaches, with 18 coaches carrying 10 tonnes of o­nions per coach and 2 coaches have been left empty, for loading enroute stations. This train will have halts at Sant Hirdaram Nagar, Bina, Jhansi, Kanpur, Lucknow, Gorakhpur, Chhapra, Hajipur, Katihar, Kishanganj, New Jalpaiguri and Changsari stations in both directions. 

Recent Achievement:

Indian Railways is consistently striving hard to increase the loading volume & revenue. Working in this direction, Western Railway is also taking best possible efforts to optimize its freight business, thereby also keeping the supply of essential commodities open throughout the country. Essential commodities are being transported through its parcel special trains and goods trains

  • According to a press release issued by Shri Sumit Thakur- Chief Public Relations Officer of Western Rly, since 22nd March, 2020, total 21,524 rakes of goods trains were loaded till 16th Nov, 2020 over Western Rly. 
  • Loading in the 21,524 rakes included various essential commodities such as: 
    • POL – 2262
    • Fertilizers – 4328
    • Salt – 1120
    • Foodgrain – 203
    • Cement -1937 
    • Coal – 821 
    • Containers – 9524 
    • General Goods – 98 rakes
  • In addition to this, Millennium parcel rakes, including milk rakes carrying essential commodities such as medicine, frozen food, milk powder, liquid milk and general consumer goods were also transported, mainly to Northern & North East regions.
  • Total 42,883 Freight trains were interchanged with other Railways, including 21,420 trains handed over and 21,463 trains taken over at different interchange points of Western Railway. 
  • During the period, important inward rakes such as 2761 rakes of Jumbo, 1732 rakes of BOXN and 1193 rakes of BTPN were unloaded at various stations over Western Rly, despite shortage of labourers. 
  • Shri Thakur further stated that, in addition to the above goods traffic, since 23rd March to 1611 Nov, 2020, commodities weighing approx.1.77 lakh tonnes have been transported by Western Rly through its 681 parcel special trains, which mainly included agricultural produce, medicines, fish, milk etc. 
  • The earnings generated through this transportation, has been above Rs 60 crore. During this period, 120 milk special trains were run by Western Rly, with a load of about 89 thousand tonnes and 100% utilization of the wagons. 
  • Similarly, 495 Covid-19 special parcel trains with a load of 56 thousand tonnes were also run to transport various essential commodities. 
  • In addition to this, 66 indented rakes carrying more than 29 thousand tonnes were also run with almost 100% utilization. 
  • WR has scheduled to run various timetabled Parcel special trains during lockdown period to different parts of the country. 
  • Three Parcel Special trains, including a milk rake viz Bandra Terminus to Jammu Tawi, Porbandar to Shalimar and a milk special rake from Palanpur to Hind Terminal departed from WR on 17th Nov, 2020. 

Source: Western Railway-Press Release | Image Credit: MoR