The Indian Railways on Thursday said it will begin running ‘Kisan Rail’, a service announced in the Union Budget 2020-21, from August 7. The first such train will run weekly between Devlali (Maharashtra) to Danapur (Bihar).
“This train will help in bringing perishable agricultural products like vegetables and fruits to the market in a short period of time. The train with frozen containers is expected to build a seamless national cold supply chain for perishables, inclusive of fish, meat and milk,” the Indian Railways said in a statement.
It added that Bhusawal Division in Central Railway is primarily an agro-based division and that Nasik and its surrounding region produce huge quantities of fresh vegetables, fruits, flowers and other perishables. These perishables are mainly transported to areas around Patna (Bihar), Prayagraj (Uttar Pradesh), Katni (Madhya Pradesh) and Satna (Madhya Pradesh).
The new train will have scheduled halts at Nasik Road, Manmad, Jalgaon, Bhusaval, Burhanpur, Khandwa, Itarsi, Jabalpur, Satna, Katni, Manikpur, Prayagraj Chheoki, Pt. Deendayal Upadhyay Nagar and Buxar.
“This train is a step towards realising the goal of doubling farmers’ incomes by 2022,” the statement added.
While the Indian Railways have earlier run single commodity special trains such as Banana Specials, this will be the first multi-commodity train.
“Aggressive marketing is being done with local farmers, loaders, APMC and individuals. Demand is being aggregated. It is expected that the train will be patronised well and will be a great help to the farmers, as freight of this train will be charged as per parcel tariff of normal train (P Scale),” it said.
