Central Railway Transports 40.85 million tonne freight through 7.71 lakh wagons and 1.76 lakh tonne Parcels during lockdown and unlock period

Delhi, 21 December, 2020: Railways the preferred mode of transport during the lockdown and unlock period have played an important role in transporting essential commodities and freight. It transports essential commodities to every nook and corner of the country to keep the supply chain intact. The Railways has also ensured the timely delivery of freight vital for the power and infrastructure sector by maintaining its goods trains fully functional.

Central Railway transported 40.85 million tonnes of freight through 7.71 lakh wagons successfully in meeting the needs of the industry from 23rd March 2020 to 17th December 2020.

Central Railway has transported various commodities in 7.71 lakh wagons at an average of 2,855 wagons per day. It transported Coal in 2.99 lakh wagons, Containers in 2.32 lakh wagons, Cement 53,456 wagons, Food grains 8,067 wagons, Fertilizer 36,542 wagons, Petrol, oil and lubricants 72,284 wagons, Iron and Steel 19,786 wagons, Sugar 4,107 wagons, Onion 7,616 wagons, De-oiled cake 4,054 wagons and other miscellaneous freight in 33,855 wagons.

Central Railway has also transported 1.76 lakh tonnes of parcel traffic comprising essential commodities like medicine and pharma products, e-commerce items, mail and other hard parcels, milk etc. It transported 1.04 lakh tonnes through 703 timetabled parcel trains run since lockdown, 68533 tonnes through parcel vans of special trains run from 1.6.2020 and 3,449 tonnes of milk in Railway Milk Tankers.

Central Railway has taken many initiatives to boost freight and parcel loading by opening new goods sheds, parcel hubs. In this regard, multidisciplinary Business Development Units (BDU) were also formed on divisions as well as at Central Railway headquarters level. These units consisting of Senior Branch officers of Operating, Commercial, Finance and Mechanical department interact frequently with trade and industry to attract more traffic towards railways.