- Home
- India
Devlali to Danapur weekly train for perishables from today
KT NEWS SERVICE. Dated: 8/7/2020 10:57:15 AM
NEW DELHI, Aug 6: The Indian Railways is introducing 'Kisan Rail,' a special weekly parcel train from Devlali in Maharashtra to Danapur in Bihar from Friday, in pursuance of an announcement made by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in this year's Union Budget.
This train will provide a seamless supply chain of perishable produce, which will be a great help to the farmers in doubling their incom by 2022, as freight of this train will be charged as per parcel tariff of a normal train. It will be flagged off on Friday at 11 AM by Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar and Railways Minister Piyush Goyal through video conferencing. The train will reach Danapur next day at 18.45 hrs, covering 1519 km in 31:45 hours.
Its scheduled halts are at Nasik Road, Manmad, Jalgaon, Bhusaval, Burhanpur, Khandwa, Itarsi, Jabalpur, Satna, Katni, Manikpur, Prayagraj Chheoki, Pt. Deendayal Upadhyay Nagar and Buxar.
The idea is to bring the perishable farm produces like vegetables and fruits to the market in a short period. The train will have frozen containers to provide a cold chain for perishables, including fish, meat and milk.
WHY FROM DEVLALI?: Bhusawal division of the central railway is primarily an agro-based division. Nashik and surrounding region produces huge quantities of fresh vegetables, fruits, flowers, other perishables, onions and other agro products that are sold mostly in areas around Patna, Prayagraj as also Katni and Satna in Madhya Pradesh.
The freight rates per tonne are Rs 4001 from Devlali to Danapur, Rs 3849 from Manmad to Danapur, Rs 3459 from Bhusawal to Danapur, Rs 3323 from Burhanpur to Danapur and Rs 3148 from Khandwa to Danapur.
Earlier the railways have run single commodity special trains for bananas, but this will be the first multi-commodity train to carry fruits like Pomegranate, Banana, Grapes etc and vegetables like Capsicum, Cauliflower, Drumsticks, Cabbage, Onions, and Chillies. Once Successful, such trains will also be introduced on other routes to bring markets close to farms, a Railway Ministry spokesman said.