News Brief
Arun Kumar Das
Aug 11, 2021, 11:00 AM | Updated 11:00 AM IST
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In a record transportation of milk on rails, "Doodh Duronto” special trains from Renigunta of Andhra Pradesh to the national capital have crossed the 10 crore litres mark.
Right from the date of introduction on March 26, 2020, these special trains were operated by South Central Railway on an uninterrupted basis and till date, 2,502 milk tankers were transported through 443 trips.
Transportation of milk by rail from Renigunta to New Delhi has been very important and crucial to meet the essential needs of the capital. Prior to Covid-19, milk tankers were being attached to weekly superfast trains to cater to the milk needs of the people in New Delhi and surrounding regions.
When lockdown was implemented in the country, to supplement the cause, South Central Railway started the unique concept of operating “Doodh Duronto” special trains by exclusively attaching milk tankers.
The zone has been operating these trains on a par with Mail express trains by covering the distance of 2,300 kms from Renigunta to H. Nizamuddin station within a reasonable time of 30 hours.
Doodh Duronto specials are run normally with six milk tankers, each milk tanker having a capacity of 40,000 litres, totalling to 2.40 lakh litres of milk in a train.
The officials of Guntakal Railway division are in constant touch with the freight customers who are offering the loading of milk and have been attending to their requirements so that there is no hindrance in operation of the trains.
Since introduction of this novel initiative, these trains have been operated continuously during peak Covid times and are also being continued further to balance the supply chain of essential commodities.
Arun Kumar Das is a senior journalist covering railways. He can be contacted at akdas2005@gmail.com.