Long Haul Freight Trains: A big boost to freight movement! For the first time ever, Indian Railways has run two long haul freight trains “Trishul” and “Garuda” over the South Central Railway network successfully. These long haul freight trains which are twice or multiple times longer than the normal composition of Indian Railways’ freight trains, according to the Railway Ministry, provide a very effective solution to the problem of capacity constraints in critical rail sections. Some of the key benefits of running these long haul freight trains include saving of path across congested routes, maximizing the throughput of critical sections, quicker transit time, saving in crews.
According to the Railway Ministry, the long haul train- Trishul is South Central Railways’ first long haul train comprising of three freight trains, i.e., a total of 177 wagons. On 7 October 2021, this long haul freight train was started from the Kondapalli railway station of the Vijayawada Division to the East Coast Railway zone’s Khurda Division. The South Central Railway followed it up with the running of yet another similar one named Garuda on 8 October 2021 from Raichur of Guntakal Division to Manuguru of Secunderabad Division. The long haul freight trains, in both cases, comprised of empty open wagons for coal loading, meant for thermal power stations predominantly.
The Railway Ministry further said the South Central Railway zone is one of the five major freight loading railway zones on the Indian Railways network. The bulk of the South Central Railway zone’s freight traffic moves in certain arterial routes such as Ballarshah – Kazipet – Vijayawada, Kazipet – Secunderabad – Wadi, Visakhapatnam – Vijayawada – Gudur – Renigunta, Vijayawada – Guntur – Guntakal sections. As the bulk of its freight traffic has to pass through these major routes, it is important for the zonal railway to maximize throughput available across these critical railway sections, the Railway Ministry added.
