Waltair Division sets up BDU for hassle-free cargo service

Visakhapatnam: In a step to make the booking of parcels a hassle-free exercise and reach out to more customers through cargo services, Waltair Division of East Coast Railway adopted time tabled parcel express trains as per the guidelines defined by Railway Board, for maintaining uninterrupted supply of essential commodities to various parts of the country during these unprecedented times.

As part of the commitment, Waltair Division has set up a business development unit (BDU) under the guidance of its Divisional Railway Manager Chetan Kumar Shrivastava.

With a primary focus towards bringing the railways closer to industry and trade apart from increasing the railways' share in the transportation needs, including non-bulk goods traffic, the division has geared up to improve loading and unloading environment to tap the cargos like vegetables, food grains, grocery items, building materials, automobiles, etc by interacting with the cargo movers, freight customers and providing additional halt to parcel trains based on the demand and feasibility.

With the setup of BDU, the parcel cargo improved with transportation to the tune of 1,030 tonnes in August including 308.246 tonnes by parcel special trains. In September till date, the parcel transportation of 107.658 tonnes was achieved through parcel specials. With the additional stoppage at Vizianagaram railway station to Bangalore-Howrah parcel special, 17.351 tonnes of parcel booking could be achieved in the last few weeks whereas 5.08 tonnes of parcel booked on September 8.

The booking of parcels can be done by consulting station superintendents or station managers or commercial supervisors at nearest stations where there are stoppages. For any assistance or clarification one can visit the divisional office on working days.