In A First, Indian Railways Successfully Operates Long-Haul Freight Trains Over South Central Railway

Indian Railways has successfully operated two long haul freight trains “Trishul" and “Garuda" for the first time over South Central Railway (SCR), said an official release on Sunday (10 October).

Long haul trains, which are twice or multiple times longer than the normal composition of freight trains, provide a very effective solution to the problem of capacity constraints in critical sections.

Trishul is South Central Railway's first long haul comprising of three freight trains, i.e., 177 wagons. This train was started on 7 October from Kondapalli station of Vijayawada division to Khurda division of East Coast Railway, the Ministry of Railways said in a release.

The South Central Railway (SCR) followed it up with running of yet another similar long-haul train named Garuda on 8 October from Raichur of Guntakal division to Manuguru of Secunderabad division.

In both the cases, the long haul trains comprised of empty open wagons for loading of coal meant for predominantly thermal power stations, the ministry said.

SCR is a one of the five major freight loading railways of the Indian Raiways. Bulk of SCR’s freight traffic moves in certain arterial routes such as Visakhapatnam-Vijayawada-Gudur-Renigunta, Ballarshah-Kazipet-Vijayawada, Kazipet-Secunderabad-Wadi, Vijayawada-Guntur-Guntakal sections. As bulk of its freight traffic has to pass through these major routes, it is essential for SCR to maximise throughput available across these critical section, the ministry said.

Saving of path across congested routes, quicker transit time, maximising throughput of critical sections, saving in crews are the major operational benefits of running long haul trains, which help Indian Railways serve its freight customers better, it added.