Western Railway’s Parcel Special trains are continuously on the move during the wake of COVID 19 to transport most essential items like medical equipment, medicines, food grains. They also ensure the supply of milk and milk products to different parts of the country through its milk special trains.
In the wake of Coronavirus pandemic, Western Railway’s Parcel Special trains had been continuously on move to transport essential goods like milk and milk products, medicines, equipment, food grains, etc. Recently, three more special trains have been added to the list which will carry essential goods have been added between Bandra Terminus to Ludhiana, Okha to Guwahati and Porbandar to Shalimar by the Western Railways.
The details of the special parcel trains 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. In Vadodara, the train will arrive at 02:05 a.m and will depart at 02:20 a.m.
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 Vadodara at 12:10 a.m. and depart at 12:25 a.m.
● 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.
● 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 the third day. The train will halt at Vadodara at 07:10 p.m and depart at 07:20 p.m.
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 the third day. The train will halt at Vadodara at 06:35 a.m and depart at 06:45 a.m.
The Western Railways has used 7,506 rakes of goods trains between March 22 to June 26, 2020, in supplying essential commodities amounting to 15.58 million tonnes. 14,781 freight trains have been interchanged with other zonal railways, in which 7,424 trains were handed over and 7,357 trains taken over at different interchange points.
It is worth mentioning that, during the lockdown period, since March 23 to June 26, 2020, commodities weighing almost 66 thousand tonnes have been transported by Western Railways through its 364 parcel special trains, which included mainly agricultural produce, medicines, fish, milk and others. The earnings generated through this transportation has been approx. Rs 21.15 crore. During this period, 49 milk special trains were run by Western Railway 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 3,186 tonnes were also run with almost 100% utilization generating revenue of more than Rs 1.55 crore.
Total loss of earnings over Western Railway on account of Coronavirus lockdown has been over Rs 1,485 crore, which includes Rs 214.83 crore for suburban section and Rs 1,270.23 crore for non-suburban. Despite this, Western Railway has ensured to return refund amount of Rs. 371.14 crore for the cancelled tickets. 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.
