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.
Recent Achievement:
Western Railway is fully committed to get the best results in Mission loading, and is making all efforts to surpass its previous best figures and create new benchmarks. Under the able guidance of Shri Alok Kansal – General Manager of Western Railway, for the first time WR crossed monthly loading of 8 Million Tonnes in October 2020, by achieving its best ever loading of 8.14 Million Tonnes.
- According to a press release issued by Shri Sumit Thakur- Chief Public Relations Officer of Western Rly, the loading of 8.14 Million Tonnes for the month of October 2020, not just crossed last year’s loading of 6.81 million tonnes in Oct 2019, but also the previous best loading of 7.96 Million Tonnes, achieved in January 2015.
- This new benchmark has been achieved after almost six years.
- In the month of October 2020, WR achieved average loading of 5029 wagons per day, improving previous best loading of 4673 wagons in September 2020.
- It is thus evident that the teams at WR are leaving no stone unturned to give their optimum to the organization and the country.
- This milestone could be achieved inspite of the labour constraints arisen due to Covid-19.
- It is worth mentioning that a number of concessions/ discounts are also being given by Indian Railways to make Railways Freight movement very attractive.
- Business Development Units set up at Zonal & Divisional levels also having regular meetings with existing freight transporters, as well as prospective clients to attract them towards transport by rails.
- The various incentives and customer friendly initiatives that are being offered, are also highlighted to attract business.
- Another factor contributing to sustainable growth momentum is that the speed of freight trains have also been increased.
- Shri Thakur further added that since 23rd March to 31st Oct, 2020, commodities weighing more than 1.63 lakh tonnes have been transported by Western Rly through its 645 parcel special trains, which mainly included agricultural produce, medicines, fish, milk etc.
- The revenue generated through this transportation, has been about Rs 55.37 crore. During this period, 112 milk special trains were run by Western Rly, with a load of more than 85 thousand tonnes and 100% utilization of the wagons.
- Similarly, 474 Covid-19 special parcel trains with a load of more than 52 thousand tonnes were also run to transport various essential commodities.
- In addition to this, 59 indented rakes carrying about 26 thousand tonnes were also run with almost 100% utilization.
- During the period from 22nd March till 31st Oct, 2020, total 20,045 rakes of goods trains have been used by WR to supply essential commodities amounting to 42.98 million tonnes.
Source: Western Railway-Press Release | Image Credit (representational): MoR
