BENGALURU: A slice of history was created at 5.40 am on Wednesday when the Roll On-Roll off train of South Western Railway (SWR) chugged into Bale station of Solapur district in Maharashtra bearing 26 trucks on board its open wagons.
It had departed from Nelamangala in Bengaluru Rural district on Tuesday at 1.32 pm.
An inaugural trip by the train undertaken on Sunday failed to complete its trip and returned to the destination after covering a short trip causing much controversy.
A total of 28 drivers and cleaners were onboard the train today, which traveled a distance of 682 kms and reached within 15 hours, two hours before scheduled arrival.
The uniqueness of this service is that the trucks are directly driven onto the train on permanent ramps at the boarding stations and can be steered out of the wagons at the destination station.
Divisional Railway Manager A K Verma told The New Indian Express, “With meticulous planning, we were able to operate the RO-RO service seamlessly. This marks a paradigm shift in the relationship of Railways and Roads. From competitors, we have now become collaborators in the progress of the nation.”
The service has received very good feedback from drivers, he added. “The rake was tracked throughout its journey in real time. Videos were made of all important locations like under bridges, major bridges, stations, and other structures en route for our study.”
Stringent safety measures like leashing the trucks onto the wagons at multiple points using steel chains, earthing of the trucks to the wagons and two rounds of counseling for the drivers on precautionary measures preceded the run, he explained.
The train with 43 wagons permits 30 tonnes of material per truck.
Udayshankar Patil, Chief Executive Officer of Jitendra Reality and Infrastructure, the aggregator who brings the companies on board to use the service, told TNIE, “I am really relieved that we succeeded today after three years of working on it. Ours is the first private RORO service in the country. Teething problems were there before launch but everyone faces it. This is a fantastic revenue model for both the Railways and companies.”
Yogendra Sharma, who prepared the project’s Detailed Project Report, said, “Reduction of road traffic and reduction in fuel consumption are major benefits. Since the train literally carries the trucks, it is akin to door-to-door delivery of goods.”
The launch on August 30 turned to be a damp squib as the train carrying just 13 trucks traveled till Chikkabanavar station, just 13 kms away, and returned to the originating Nelamangala.
“The need to carry out safety parameters and checks, particularly in light of monsoon conditions delayed the completion of the journey,” said a statement from SWR.
However, reliable sources at the spot told TNIE that the need to maintain a considerable gap between the base of the wagon and the 25,000 Volts Over Head Electric wires above the tracks, forced them to replace the bigger sized trucks planned for the trip to ones of different dimensions.
The only RORO service running successfully in India for a decade now is operated by the Konkan Railway Limited (KRCL) for a distance of 721 km between Suratkal and Kolad (143 km from Mumbai).
RORO services launched earlier in the National Capital Region and in Bihar have been shelved, said a source.