Hiten Shukla
In the wake of the lockdown to contain the spread of the deadly Corona virus, Western Railway’s staff from various departments is ensuring to continue to display grit and commitment through their exemplary services. This is so because, Western Railway has always been fully committed to its customers and has continued to ensure supply of essential commodities to different areas. As a unique initiative, WR has scheduled various timetabled Parcel special trains during lockdown period to various places of the country & in last 45 days transportation of 26 thousand tonnes of essential commodities has been ensured through these special trains.
According to a press release issued by Shri Ravinder Bhakar – Chief Public Relations Officer of Western Rly, during the lockdown period from 22nd March to 6th May, 2020, total 3174 rakes of goods trains have been used to supply essential commodities amounting to 6.96 million tonnes. 6525 freight trains were interchanged with other railways, including 3291 trains handed over and 3234 trains taken over at different interchange points. 171 Millennium Parcel rakes of Parcel Vans/Railway Milk Tankers (RMTs) have been sent to different parts of the country to cope with the demands of essential items such as milk powder, liquid milk , medical supplies and other general consumer goods. Since 23rd March to 6th May 2020, commodities weighing more than 26000 tonnes have been transported by Western Rly through its various parcel special trains, which included agricultural produce, medicines, fish, milk etc. The earnings generated through this transportation, has been approx Rs 7.82 crore.
In this, twenty two milk special trains were run by Western Rly, with a load of approx 16000 tonnes and 100% utilization of the wagons, generating revenue of approx Rs 2.74 crore. Similarly, 143 Covid-19 special parcel trains were also run to transport essential commodities, for which the revenue earned was approx Rs 4.30 crore. In addition to this, 4 indented rakes were also run with 100% utilization for earnings of approximately 78 lakh.
Shri Bhakar informed that seven parcel special trains, including one milk rake left from WR for various parts of the country on 7th May, 2020 viz. Rajkot – Coimbatore, Okha – Guwahati, Dadar – Bhuj, Bandra Terminus – Okha, Okha – Bandra Terminus, and Mumbai Central – Firozpur. One milk rake also left from Palanpur to Hind Terminal. He stated that the total loss of earnings over Western Railway inclusive of suburban + non -suburban sections, since March, 2020, has been Rs 746.57 crore on account of lockdown. Inspite of this, due to cancellation of tickets till now, Western Railway has ensured to refund amount of Rs 238.04 crore.
It’s worth mentioning that in this refund amount, Mumbai division alone, has ensured refund of Rs 115.03 crore. Till now, 37.22 lakh passengers have cancelled their tickets over entire Western Railway & have received their refund amount accordingly. It is also worth mentioning that upto 6th May, 2020 more than 1.5 lakh masks and above 15000 liters of sanitizers have been made inhouse by various divisions and workshops of WR during lockdown period.
