BHUBANESWAR: In a first, the East Coast Railway (ECoR) on Monday conducted trial run of a two-km freight train in order to reduce manpower, ease congestion on tracks and make goods transport cost effective.
The train having four engines, three brakes and 147 wagons ran between Godbhaga and Sikir railway stations near Titlagarh in Sambalpur Railway Division covering 145 km. The concept of long haul train has already been experimented and adopted by North Central Railway and Western Railway who launched this freight service in the name of ‘python’ and ‘anaconda’ respectively.
ECoR officials said as part of this experiment, three train rakes were coupled together to run them at a time on a single track. The first rake having 45 containers and the second and third rakes having 51 empty wagons each used for the experiment were going towards Visakhapatnam.
“We ran the long haul train on an experimental basis for the first time in Odisha to measure its benefits. During its running, the manpower requirement was comparatively less,” said an ECoR official.
Besides, he said, the train that ran on a single signal and less closure of level crossings was cost effective and helped avoid congestion on tracks.
Railways sources said a number of such long haul trains are running in the country on a daily basis making transport of goods transport efficient and commercially viable.
The Centre, which is mulling to expand this service, had emphasised on it in Railways’ Passenger and Freight Sector Action Plan for 2017-18.