First Kisan Rail chugs from Bengaluru to Delhi

Bengaluru: The first Kisan Rail from Karnataka has left Bengaluru for Hazrat Nizamuddin station in New Delhi, with 30 tonnes of vegetable and other farm products, an official said on Saturday.

"The first Kisan Rail special from Karnataka was flagged off at the Krantiveera Sangolli Rayanna (KSR) Bengaluru station by its station master and staff," said the official in a statement here.

The first Kisan (farmer) Rail from South India was run from Ananthapur in Andhra Pradesh to Azadpur Mandi in Delhi on September 9 with 322 tonnes of fruits.

"The freight train will halt at 17 stations en-route to load more farm goods in its closed wagons to Delhi," said the official of the SWR.

The train will stop at Mysuru, Hassan, Arsikere, Davanagere, HubballiA Londa, Belagavi, Miraj, Pune Manmad, Bhusaval, Khandwa, Itarsi, Bhopal, Jhansi, Agra Cantonment and Mathura en-route and will reach Nizamuddin at 11:45 pm on Monday.

The train has 10 high capacity parcel vans, one brake-luggage-cum-generator car and one second class luggage-cum-brake van, with a disabled-friendly compartment. "As it's a goods train, passengers are not allowed to travel in it. The train is permitted to load and upload only agricultural commodities," said the official.

The special freight train will be operated initially for a month and extended if required by the goods carriers.

The special train is being operated in line with Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman's announcement in the 2020-21 budget on February 1 to build a national cold supply chain for perishables, inclusive of milk, meat and fish.