Western Railway's Kisan Rail services surpasses 100 mark milestone in current financial year

Western Railway has successfully run 101 Kisan Rail services to destinations across the country and has crossed the milestone of Rs. 8000 Cr in originating revenue on 31st October, 2021.

According to a press release issued by Sumit Thakur – Chief Public Relations Officer of Western Railway, Kisan Rail services were introduced by Indian Railways for transportation of agricultural products to ensure timely and fast movement of the produce. Over Western Railway, these services were planned and operated for transportation of onion, garlic, chikoo and raw bananas in VP/GSS rakes on various routes of the railway. It is worth mentioning that, chikoo was included in Ministry of Food Processing Industries' (MoFPI) list of notified fruits and vegetables as recommended by WR.

The first Kisan Rail Special from WR ran on 24th November, 2020 from Laxmibainagar, Madhya Pradesh to New Guwahati, Assam for transportation of onion. In the current financial year from 1st April to 31st October, 2021, 101 Kisan Rail trips have been operated by WR and the 101st Kisan Rail was run from Laxmibainagar, Madhya Pradesh to Bapudham Motihari, Bihar. The 100th Kisan Rail of WR this financial year ran from Laxminagar to Malda Town.

WR has run its Kisan Rail Specials to various parts of the country such as Adarsh Nagar (New Delhi), Bapudham Motihari (Bihar), Jorhat Town (Assam), Malda Town (West Bengal) and Changsari (Assam) transporting more than 26,000 tonnes of agricultural produce comprising of onion, garlic, chikoo and raw bananas, generating revenue of over Rs. 10 Cr. It is further planned to extend the reach to destinations like, Jirania, Gaur Malda, Raxaul, New Guwahati Goods Shed and Agartala.

Thakur further stated that during the period from 1st April to 31st October, 2021, WR achieved revenue of approx. Rs. 8019 Cr registering almost 40% growth in comparison to previous year for the corresponding period. 100% increase in revenue has been achieved from Passenger, Parcel and Ticket Checking segments. The originating number of passengers travelled stood at 266.69 million which has increased manifold against previous year's tally of 41.08 million. With this, Western Railway has surpassed the 8000 Cr revenue mark. This milestone is the best performance in terms of achieving 1000 Cr revenue vis-à-vis number of days based on the trend for every 1000 Cr achieved in this financial year.

Thakur added that during the period from 1st April to 31st October, 2021, Western Railway has transported commodities weighing more than 1.74 lakh tonnes through its 444 parcel special trains, which included agricultural produce, medicines, medical equipment, fish, milk etc. The revenue generated through this transportation, has been more than Rs. 61.92 crores. 107 Milk Special trains were run by Western Railway, with a load of more than 75,000 tonnes and 100% utilization of the wagons.

Similarly, 123 COVID-19 special parcel trains with a load of approx. 24,500 tonnes were also run to transport essential commodities. In addition to this, 113 indented rakes carrying about 48,300 tonnes were also run with 100% utilization. A total 22,230 rakes of goods trains have been run by WR and carried 49.12 million tonnes of essential commodities as compared to 42.93 million tonnes in the corresponding period last year. 47,279 freight trains were interchanged with other zonal railways, of which 23,652 trains were handed over and 23,627 trains were taken over at different interchange points.