Western Railway has loaded 3,258 goods rakes till 7th May 2020 despite the lockdown, according to a press release from the zone.
These include rakes loaded with essential commodities like fuel, fertilizer, salt, foodgrains, cement, coal and containerized goods. The goods loaded amount to approximately 6.1 Million tons to various regions of the country.
In addition to this 178 rakes of Millennium Parcel Van and Milk Tank Wagons containing essential commodities such as medicine, medical kits, frozen food, milk powder and liquid milk were loaded to Northern & North East region, according to Western Railway.
6,683 Goods Trains Exchanged with Other Zones
Total 6683 Freight trains were interchanged with other Railways including 3367 trains handed over and 3316 trains taken over at different interchange points of Western Railway. During the period, important inward rakes such as 433 rakes of Jumbo, 224 rakes of BOXN and 186 rakes of BTPN were unloaded despite shortage of labour.
This was also possible thanks to initiative taken by the zone to ensure proper passage of labour and road transport despite the lockdown, according to officials from WR.
A total of 1350 passes were issued to labourers and trucks and also proper liasoning with state authorities were done to facilitate workers/labourers to obtain passes from state authorities covering four states namely Gujarat, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan.
Best Ever Container Loading of 1,846 Wagons Per Day in April 2020
The zone also achieved best ever Container loading of 1846 wagons per day in April 2020 and loaded approximately 25% more containers during the lock down period as compared to last year, the WR release states.
The loading of food grains has shown a growth of 200% in the month of April 2020 compared to April2019, thereby catering to the huge food demand in the country in times of such critical conditions.
During the period, diesel utilization has improved by approximately 26% and electric utilization by 10%, as compared to last year. Similarly, 39.6 km/hr best ever average speed of freight trains has been achieved during the lock down period, due to the absence of passenger trains during the earlier period of lockdown and maintenance of track.
Since 23rd March to 7th May 2020, commodities weighing more than 27000 tonnes have been transported by Western Rly through its various parcel special trains, which included agricultural produce, medicines, fish, milk etc.
The earnings generated through this transportation, has been approx Rs 8.02 crore.
Western Railway Operated 23 Milk Special Trains
In this, twenty three milk special trains were run by Western Rly, with a load of above 16700 tonnes and 100% utilization of the wagons, generating revenue of approx Rs 2.88 crore.
Similarly, 149 Covid-19 special parcel trains were also run to transport essential commodities, for which the revenue earned was approx Rs 4.36 crore. In addition to this, 4 indented rakes were also run with 100% utilization for earnings of approximately 78 lakh.
Additionally, on Ahmedabad division at Linch Goods shed a sanitizer tunnel has been set up. At other major goods shed, masks, hand gloves, sanitizers have been provided. Total 27 Thermal scanning guns were procured by Western Railway to check the body temperature of labourers/workers at goods shed.
Four parcel special trains left from WR for various parts of the country on 8th May, 2020 viz. Porbandar – Shalimar, Bhuj – Dadar, Bandra Terminus – Ludhaina & Kankaria – Cuttack.
Western Railway Lost 761 Crores in Earnings Due to Lockdown, Refunded 238 Crores to Passengers for Cancelled Tickets
Total loss of earnings over Western Railway inclusive of suburban + non -suburban sections, since March, 2020, has been Rs 761.56 crore on account of lockdown, according to Ravinder Bhakar, Chief PRO, WR.
Inspite of this, due to cancellation of tickets till now, Western Railway has ensured to refund amount of Rs 238.22 crore. It’s worth mentioning that in this refund amount, Mumbai division alone, has ensured refund of Rs 115.11 crore.
Till now, 37.24 lakh passengers have cancelled their tickets over entire Western Railway & have received their refund amount accordingly.
