Hyderabad: However, Indian Railways has been continuously taking proactive steps to ensure that the supply of essential commodities is not interrupted across the country. To ensure this, South Central Railway (SCR) had come up with an innovative concept of Doodh Duronto (a special train to transport milk) to balance the milk supply across the country.
Under this initiative, special trains carrying milk tanks were formed to transport milk from Renigunta to Hazrat Nizamuddin in Delhi. Earlier, milk was transported by attaching those tanks to the scheduled passenger carrying trains. Accordingly, the first “Doodh Duronto Special” (Special Milk Train) was dispatched from Renigunta to the country’s capital on March 26.
Generally, these special trains have been running with six milk tankers, each having a capacity of 40,000 liters (i.e., totaling to 2.40 lakh litres of milk in a train). However, considering the demand, the train has been running every alternate day from Renigunta and the number of milk tanks has also increased to eight tanks during some trips as well.
So far, around 42 trips of Doodh Duronto special trains have been operated and they have transported 1.04 crore litres milk. Incidentally, 262 ready made trains have been transported through these milk trains till date. Importantly, the “Doodh Duronto Special” is permitted to run with an average speed of 110 kilometers per hour without any enroute detention so that the train reaches its destination within 36 hours. Utmost care is being taken while loading along with necessary precautionary measures like sanitisation.
Physical distancing and staff hygiene have been maintained in every trip. Gajanan Mallya, General Manger, SCR advised the Railway staff to continue adhering to all the necessary precautions while loading, unloading and transporting this important commodity.
mohammedhussain.reporter@gmail.com