Indian Railways contributes in export of grains and oil to Bangladesh

PRAYAGRAJ: After gifting Ten diesel locomotives to the neighbouring country of Bangladesh, Indian Railways (IR) is also contributing to exports of grains and oil to the neighbouring country. For this, North Central Railways (NCR) too has started contributing its share.

Through the efforts made by business development units (BDU) aimed at increasing the freight loading volume, NCR, for the first time, Prayagraj division of NCR has loaded 2464 tonnes of maize for export to Bangladesh thus generating freight revenue of Rs 55 lakhs.

Similarly, on Jhansi division, De Oil Cake (DOC) was loaded from Rayaru station to Rohanpur in Bangladesh on Sunday, generating freight revenue of Rs 54 lakhs.

Chief public relation officer (CPRO) of NCR, Ajeet Kumar Singh informed that IR has taken series of steps like the formation of BDUs; short term and long term improvements in loading infrastructure and user amenities in 17 goods sheds; bringing efficiency in freight train operation and implementing various incentives in freight loading.

“To create awareness among existing and prospective freight customers, Prayagraj, Jhansi and Agra divisions have also prepared leaflets containing infographics on various freight incentive schemes, contact details of business development units, brief details of division, QR code-based link for freight fare calculator, QR code-based link for downloading important circulars related to freight loading etc”, said Singh.

To provide further impetus to freight loading, station to station (STS) concessional freight transportation rate has been finalized with ITC limited for loading of food grains from Dabra and Datia stations to ITC’s plant in Bhopal. STS scheme provides concession up to 30% in freight transportation charges for incremental and new traffic against a set benchmark loading of specified commodity between specific originating and destination stations. NCR is working on STS proposals for different major freight customers including ITC for incremental and new traffic stream from Etah, Kherali , Kabrai, Rayaru, Lalitpur, Hathras Fort & Mathura stations of NCR, he added.

Further, for fast, safe and efficient transportation of perishables and non-bulk commodities, first ‘Kisan Rail’, a mualti-commodity train between Devlali- Danapur to carry fruits and vegetables has been given scheduled stoppage at Manikpur and Prayagraj Chheoki stations and Eight special parcel trains between Okha- Guwahati, Guwahati- New Delhi, Howrah- Amritsar and Jodhpur- Guwahati have been given scheduled stoppages at Tundla, Kanpur Central and Prayagraj Junction.