Western Railway’s Parcel Special trains are continuously on the move, as per the timetable, during the current situation, in the wake of COVID19. Western Railway is fulfilling very well the responsibility of transporting most essential items like medical equipment, medicines, food grains etc. across the nation, as it has always been fully committed to the needs of its customers. WR is also ensuring the supply of milk and milk products to different parts of the country through its milk special trains. In continuation to this, 3 more parcel special trains with total 80 trips are scheduled by Western Rly to run between Bandra T- Ludhiana, Okha – Guwahati and Porbandar – Shalimar.
Details of the 3 parcel specials viz Bandra T- Ludhiana, Okha – Guwahati and Porbandar – Shalimar, which are scheduled to be run, are as follows :-
● Bandra Terminus – Ludhiana Parcel Special Train (32 trips)
Train No 00901 Bandra Terminus – Ludhiana parcel special train will depart from Bandra Terminus at 20.00 hrs on 30th June, 2nd, 4th, 6th, 8th, 10th, 12th, 14th, 16th, 18th, 20th, 22nd, 24th, 26th 28th & 30th July, 2020 and will reach Ludhiana at 03.00 hrs on the 3rd day. Similarly, Train No 00902 will leave Ludhiana at 23.30 hrs on 2nd, 4th, 6th, 8th, 10th, 12th, 14th, 16th, 18th, 20th, 22nd, 24th, 26th, 28th, 30th July & 1st Aug, 2020 and will arrive Bandra Terminus at 06.30 hrs on 3rd day. The train will halt at Vapi, Surat, Ankleshwar, Bharuch, Vadodara, Anand, Ahmedabad, Mahesana, Falna, Beawar, Ajmer, Jaipur, Delhi and Ambala stations in both directions.
● Okha – Guwahati Parcel Special Train (20 trips)
Train No 00949 Okha – Guwahati parcel special train will leave Okha on 1st, 5th, 8th, 12th, 15th, 19th, 22nd, 26th, 29th July & 2nd Aug at 07.15 hrs & will reach Guwahati on the third day at 17.00 hrs. Similarly, Train No 00950 Guwahati – Okha parcel special train will leave Guwahati at 16.00 hrs on 4th, 8th, 11th,15th, 18th, 22nd, 25th, 29th July, 1st & 5th Aug, 2020 & will reach Okha at 01.10 hrs on the fourth day. The train will halt at Jamnagar, Rajkot, Surendranagar, Ahmedabad, Anand, Chhayapuri, Ratlam, Kota, Sawai Madhopur, Bayana, Agra Fort, Tundla, Kanpur, Lucknow, Varanasi, Pt Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Jn, Patna, Muzaffarpur Jn, Katihar, New Bongaigaon and Changsari stations in both directions.
● Porbandar – Shalimar Parcel Special Train (28 trips)
Train No 00913 Porbandar – Shalimar parcel special train will leave Porbandar at 8.00 hrs on 1st, 3rd, 6th, 8th, 10th, 13th, 15th, 17th, 20th, 22nd, 24th, 27th, 29th & 31st July, 2020 & will reach Shalimar at 03.30 hrs on third day. Similarly, Train No 00914 Shalimar – Porbandar parcel special will leave Shalimar at 22.50 hrs on 3rd, 5th, 8th, 10th, 12th, 15th, 17th, 19th, 22nd, 24th, 26th, 29th, 31st July & 2nd Aug, 2020 & will reach Porbandar at 18.25 hrs on third day. The train will halt at Jamnagar, Rajkot, Surendra Nagar, Ahmedabad, Anand, Vadodara, Surat, Nandurbar, Bhusaval, Akola, Badnera, Nagpur, Durg, Raipur, Bilaspur, Jharsuguda Jn, Rourkela, Chakaradharpur, Tata Nagar and Kharagpur Jn. stations in both directions.
TRANSPORTATION OF ESSENTIALS
Since 22nd March till 26th June, 2020, total 7506 rakes of goods trains have been used by WR to supply essential commodities amounting to 15.58 million tonnes. 14,781 freight trains have been interchanged with other zonal railways, in which 7424 trains were handed over and 7357 trains taken over at different interchange points. 365 Millennium Parcel rakes of Parcel Vans/ Railway Milk Tankers (RMTs) have been sent to different parts of the country to supply as per the demands of essential items such as milk powder, liquid milk and other general consumer goods. Shri Bhakar further added that on 27th June, 2020, one parcel special train left from Porbandar to Shalimar.
It is worth mentioning that, during the lockdown period, since 23rd March to 26th June, 2020, commodities weighing almost 66 thousand tonnes have been transported by Western Rly through its 364 parcel special trains, which included mainly agricultural produce, medicines, fish, milk etc. The earnings generated through this transportation, has been approx. Rs 21.15 crore. During this period, forty nine milk special trains were run by Western Rly, with a load of more than 36 thousand tonnes and 100% utilization of the wagons, generating revenue of approx Rs 6.32 crore. Similarly, 308 Covid-19 special parcel trains with a load of approx. 26 thousand tonnes were also run to transport essential commodities, for which the revenue earned was above Rs 13 crore. In addition to this, 7 indented rakes carrying 3186 tonnes were also run with almost 100% utilization generating revenue of more than Rs 1.55 crore.
LOSS & REFUND UPDATE OF WR
The total loss of earnings over Western Railway on account of Corona Virus lockdown, has been over Rs 1485 crore, which includes Rs 214.83 crore for suburban section and Rs 1270.23 crore for non-suburban. Inspite of this, resulting to cancellation of tickets till now, Western Railway has ensured to return refund amount of Rs. 371.14 crore. It’s worth mentioning that in this refund amount, Mumbai division alone, has ensured refund of Rs 175.22 crore. Till now 56.85 lakh passengers have cancelled their tickets over entire Western Railway & have received their refund amount accordingly.
