Western Railway run maiden textile parcel special from Chalthan to Shalimar

Western Railway's goods & parcel special trains have been continuously traversing across the country to keep the supply of essential commodities moving. Regular meeting with transport aggregators, transporters, transport associations viz. STGTA & textile manufacturer's/ trader's association viz. FOSTTA, SGTTA have helped in changing the perception of industry towards rail as a service provider.

In continuation to this, Business Development Unit (BDU) of WR's Mumbai Division, for the first time transported textile weighing 202.4 tonnes from Chalthan to Shalimar, Kolkata, tapping onto the huge potential of textile market of Surat city. This has resulted in revenue generation of Rs. 9.66 lakhs. The Divisional BDUs are being closely monitored which resulted in not only improvement in parcel traffic, but also acquiring better freight opportunities in terms of new traffic.

According to a press release issued by Sumit Thakur – Chief Public Relations Officer of Western Railway, In current financial year, Mumbai Division has transported 225 on demand VPs generating revenue of Rs 2.40 Cr. till the end of Aug, 21. Regular indents for VPU has been received from Chalthan & Surat stations for Shalimar, Tata Nagar & other popular destinations. With permission to utilize NMG rake (used to transport automobile traffic) for parcel loading, Mumbai Division aggressively marketed the product amongst textile industry majors.

Thakur further added that recently Western Railway's BDU of Vadodara Division also made a remarkable achievement of transporting raw bananas weighing 240 Tonnes through Kisan Rail from Vadodara Yard to Adarsh Nagar, Delhi.

Thakur stated that from 1st April, 2021 to 1st September, 2021, Western Railway has transported commodities weighing more than 1.1 Lakh tonnes through its various parcel special trains, which included agricultural produce, medicines, medical equipment, fish, milk etc. The revenue generated through this transportation, has been approx Rs. 40.78 crore. 77 Milk Special trains were run by Western Rly, with a load of approx. 54 thousand tonnes and 100% utilization of the wagons.

Similarly, 91 COVID-19 special parcel trains with a load of approx. 16,000 tonnes were also run to transport essential commodities. In addition to this, 58 indented rakes carrying approx. 28,000 tonnes were also run with 100% utilization. To help the farmers find new markets for their produce and also for its economical and fast transportation, 79 Kisan Rails with load of about 20,000 tonnes have also been run during this period from various divisions.

During the period from 1st April to 1st September, 2021 total 16,103 rakes of goods trains have been run by WR and carried 35.08 million tonnes of essential commodities. 33,468 freight trains were interchanged with other zonal railways, in which 16,770 trains were handed over and 16,698 trains were taken over at different interchange points. Business Development Units are in constant contact with the existing and probable freight customers to encourage them to transport their goods through railways with the incentives introduced by the Railway Board for quick, reliable, economical & bulk transportation of their goods.