South central zone of Indian Railways operates 2 long haul freight trains for first time

New Delhi, Oct 10 (PTI) For the first time, the South Central zone of the Indian Railways has successfully operated two long haul freight trains named "Trishul" and "Garuda", the national transporter said on Sunday.

Long haul trains, which are twice or multiple times longer than the normal composition of freight trains, provide a very effective solution to the problem of capacity constraints in critical sections.

The first such train in South Central Railway -- Trishul -- comprising three freight trains or 177 wagons started its journey from Kondapalli station of Vijayawada division on October 7 to Khurda division of East Coast Railway, it said. SCR followed it up by running yet another similar train named Garuda on October 8 from Raichur in Guntakal division to Manuguru in Secunderabad division.

In both the cases, the long haul trains comprised of empty open wagons for loading coal meant predominantly for thermal power stations, the Railways said.

SCR is a one of the five major freight loading zones in the 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 and the Vijayawada-Guntur-Guntakal sections.

"As bulk of its freight traffic has to pass through these major routes, it is essential for SCR to maximize throughput available across these critical sections.

"Saving of path across congested routes, quicker transit time, maximizing throughput of critical sections, saving in crews are the major operational benefits of running long haul trains, which help IR serve its freight customers better," the national transporter said. PTI ASG IJT TDS TDS