Indian Railways operates first parcel train to Bangladesh amid COVID-19 lockdown

New Delhi, July 13: In a major development, the Indian railways operated its first international cargo express to transport red chillies beyond the country borders to Benapole in Bangladesh from Reddipalem, Andhra Pradesh.

 

 

Guntur is well known for Chillies cultivation. Earlier, the farmers and merchants in and around the Guntur area have been transporting Dry Chillies by road to Bangladesh in small quantities and that was costing around Rs 7000 per tonne.

 

 

During the lockdown period, they could not move this essential commodity by Road. Then Railway staff and Officials approached the consignors and explained the facilities to transport by rail. Accordingly, they have moved the Dry Chillies by Rail in bulk through goods trains. But for moving the consignment by Goods trains, it is mandatory for the farmers and merchants to mobilize the quantity in bulk i.e. at least more than 1500 tonnes in each trip.

 

Guntur Division of South Central Railway took the initiative and moved the Special Parcel Express to Bangladesh. This has helped the farmers and merchants of Guntur to market their farm produce beyond the country border by transporting the Dry Chillies in small quantities through Special Parcel Express.

 

The Special Parcel Express train consisting of 16 parcel vans moved to Benapole in Bangladesh on July 10. Each Parcel Van was loaded with 466 Dry Chillies bags, weighing around 19.9 Tonnes and the total weight carried by the Special Parcel Express is around 384 Tonnes. The cost per tonne for carrying by Special Parcel Express is Rs. 4,608 and which is very cheap and economical as compared to Road transport.

 

Indian Railways has taken a series of steps to boost parcel train traffic during the COVID period.