Indian Railways have found effective ways to tide over capacity constraints for its freight trains operations on critical sections and to increase customer satisfaction by running long haul freight trains, ‘twice or multiple times longer than the normal freight trains’.

Indian Railways, which has successfully operated two long haul freight trains “Trishul” and “Garuda” for the first time over South Central Railway (SCR), have found them to be a very effective solution to the problem of capacity constraints in critical sections, according to a ministry of Railways note here.

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Trishul is South Central Railway’s first long-haul freight train comprising three freight trains with 177 wagons. The train was started on 7 October this year from Kondapalli station of Vijayawada division to Khurda division of East Coast Railway.

The SCR launched yet another similar long-haul freight train named Garuda on 8 October from Raichur of Guntakal division to Manuguru of Secunderabad division. In both cases, the long haul trains consisted of empty open wagons for loading of coal meant for predominantly thermal power stations.

#Railways successfully operates two long haul freight trains Trishul and Garuda for the first time over South Central Railway.@RailMinIndia pic.twitter.com/R7A8o5VuUx

— DD News (@DDNewslive) October 10, 2021

South Central Railway is one of the five major freight loading railways on Indian Railways. The bulk of SCR’s freight traffic moves in certain arterial routes such as Visakhapatnam-Vijayawada-Gudur-Renigunta, Ballarshah-Kazipet-Vijayawada, Kazipet-Secunderabad-Wadi, Vijayawada-Guntur-Guntakal sections.

As the bulk of the freight traffic has to pass through these major routes, it has become essential for SCR to maximize the throughput available across these critical sections. Given the scenario, the long haul freight trains have come as a saviour to the Indian Railways freight train operations.

Enlisting the benefits of running long haul freight trains, the Railway ministry note said it helped in ‘saving of path across congested routes, quicker transit time, maximizing the throughput of critical sections, saving in crews’. These are the major operational benefits of running long-haul trains, which help Indian Railways serve its freight customers better, the ministry further noted.