Indian Railways loaded special parcel train to Bangladesh for the first time on Sunday. The train started from Reddipalem in Guntur district of Andhra Pradesh state and for Benapole in Bangladesh.
A senior railways official said that Guntur and its surrounding areas in the state of Andhra Pradesh are well known for Chillies cultivation.
“The quality of this farm produce is internationally renewed for its uniqueness in taste and brand. Earlier, the farmers and merchants in and around Guntur area have been transporting dry Chillies by road to Bangladesh in small quantities and that was costing around Rs 7000 per tone,” he said.
“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,” the ministry said in a statement.
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 mobilise the quantity in bulk i.e. at least more than 1500 tonnes in each trip, it added.
To mitigate this problem and to facilitate the Rail users to move their quantities in smalls i.e., up to a maximum of 500 tonnes in each trip, Guntur division of South Central Railway took the initiative and moved the special Parcel express to Bangladesh, it added.
“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 parcel express,” he sai.
Accordingly, one train consisting of 16 parcel van moved to Benapole in Bangladesh. Parcel van was loaded with 466 dry chillies bags, weighing around 19.9 tonnes and the total weight carried by the expres is around 384 tonnes.
The cost per tonne for carrying by rxpress is Rs. 4,608 and which is very cheap and economical as compared to Road transport which is amounting to Rs. 7,000 per tonne, he said.
It may be noted that Indian Railways has taken a series of steps to boost parcel train traffic during the Covid period.
The ministry said that transportation of essential items like medical supplies, medical equipment, food, etc in small parcel sizes are a very important items that needed for business as well as consumption purposes.
In order to fill in this vital need, Indian Railways has made railway parcel vans available for quick mass transportation by e-Commerce entities and other customers including state governments, the official said, adding that railways has been running time-tabled trains on select routes, to ensure uninterrupted supply of essential items.