Hyderabad: Transport of essential items on track: South Central Railway

Hyderabad: The South Central Railway (SCR) will be running a six-milk tanker special freight train with a capacity of 2.4 lakh litres in the next few days to Delhi. This will be the second time since the lockdown that a special freight train with milk is being sent. During normal times, milk tankers are attached to Sampark Kranti Express.

Speaking to The Hans India, SCR chief public relations officer Ch Rakesh said, "We are in talks with several parcel aggregators to transport essential commodities such as banana, mangoes, muskmelon, fish, eggs, electronic goods, readymade goods and other goods apart from coal, fertilisers and cement."

On an average, SCR is handling 160 freight trains daily. Talks are being held to transport banana from Tadipatri region of Anantapur in the coming few days. SCR is in talks with the Container Corporation of India (CONCOR) for the supply of containers.

Similarly, talks are underway with mango parcel aggregators for transportation of mangoes from the Pakala-Dharmavaram section. Trains have been proven to be the safest and cheap option for mango growers in the two Telugu speaking states.

As part of parcel specials, a Secunderabad-Howrah parcel special would be flagged off on Wednesday and would be repeated again on April 9. Telangana and AP have been traditionally large suppliers of fish and egg to West Bengal.

Speaking on the issue of labour for loading during the lockdown, Rakesh said that the SCR is coordinating with the State government and the latter has agreed to supply manpower. For goods such as coal and cement, the SCR relies on Engine on Load (EOL) with the help of conveyor belts; but, for food items especially eggs and meat, reliance on humans to stack is essential.

Renigunta epicentre

for loading

Essential goods from not just the two Telugu speaking states but even from places such as Ernakulum and Palghat in Kerala are brought to Renigunta for loading into parcel freight services. For instance, a consignment of mangoes from Kerala and muskmelon from Anantapur would be leaving from Renigunta to Delhi.