Hyderabad: As part of its initiative to increase the market share of railways in the movement of general cargo across the nation, South Central Railway (SCR) has come with a unique concept of starting a “Cargo Express.” Under this concept, a Time Tabled freight train is being started from Sanath Nagar in Hyderabad to Adarsh Nagar in New Delhi starting from August 5. SCR has taken this as a pilot project for a period of six months and would be running the “Cargo Express” once a week every Wednesday.
Generally, it is seen that only those commodities are being moved by freight trains which are bulk in nature and require transportation of huge quantity by a single train by the customers. Moreover, all these freight trains are generally loaded with a single commodity. However, with the gradual increase in the market for transportation on non-bulk commodity segments, it is imperative that Railways take steps to attract this segment of traffic as well (apart from what is being already carried by parcel trains).
Accordingly, a unique concept of aggregating this general cargo into a single train is planned which could be mutually beneficial to both Railways as well the freight customers. Because not only is transportation by the Railways one of the safest modes of transportation, it is also cost-effective compared to other modes of transport as well.
The salient features of Cargo Express special trains are:
- For the first time in nearly four decades, to aid the small and medium-sized customers, Indian Railways is permitting wagon level indenting, i.e. customers having even one wagon material of 60 tonnes approximately can book their cargo on this train
- This train will run as per the scheduled departure and arrival timings and days at both ends. The transit time to cover a distance of around 1700 kilometres between Sanath Nagar in Hyderabad to Adarsh Nagar in New Delhi away is just 34 hours. The average speed of this train is around 50 kilometres per hour
- The train departs every Wednesday evening from Hyderabad and reaches Delhi on Friday morning
- The average freight tariff from Hyderabad to Delhi and vice-versa is Rs. 2,500/- per tonne, depending on the type of commodity loaded. It is almost 40 per cent lesser than charges applicable by road and also the existing railway parcel tariff
- The Cargo Express can be tracked on FOIS on real-time basis
- The Loading and unloading facility is also available at both Sanath Nagar (Hyderabad) and Adarsh Nagar (Delhi) goods sheds at competitive rates.