The South Central Railway (SCR) is soon going to launch the country’s first-of-its-kind ‘Cargo Express’. Under this concept, a timetabled freight train will start from Sanath Nagar in Hyderabad to Adarsh Nagar in New Delhi from August 05.
This is to cater to the rising demand for transportation of non-bulk commodity segments, an official press release said, adding that this concept of aggregating general cargo into a single would be mutually beneficial to both Railways as well freight customers. The initiative also aims to increase the market share of railways in the movement of general cargo across the nation,
SCR has taken this as a pilot project for a period of six months and will run the Cargo Express once a week every Wednesday.
The features of Cargo Express special trains would be that, for the first time in nearly four decades, to aid the small and medium sized customers, Indian Railways was permitting wagon level indenting, i.e. customers having even one wagon material of 60 tonnes approximately can book their cargo on this train. The Cargo Express woud take a transit time, to cover a distance of around 1700 km from Sanath Nagar in Hyderabad to Adarsh Nagar in New Delhi, of just 34 hours. The average speed of this train will be around 50kmph. The train would depart every Wednesday evening from Hyderabad and reach Delhi on Friday morning.
The average freight tariff from Hyderabad to Delhi and vice-versa would be Rs. 2,500 per tonne, depending on the type of commodity loaded. This was almost 40 per cent lesser than charges applicable by road and also the existing railway parcel tariff.
SCR General Manager Gajanan Mallya said South Central Railway has always been a step forward in introducing customer-friendly initiatives for the freight segment and introduction of Cargo Express will further strengthen these initiatives. “The concept will be particularly beneficial to agriculture producers, traders, cargo movers, small and medium/ mini plant owners who will be able to move their cargo in record transit time at very low tariffs.”
“Since both the originating and destination stations nominated are major cities, it would be beneficial to the huge number of customers in and around these cities,” Mallya added.
Interested parties can call helpline numbers 9701371976 or 040-27821393 for enquiries or to register and book wagons. Details and FAQs are available on https://scr.indianrailways.gov.in/cargoexpress as well.
