The Western Railway (WR), in a bid to improve parcel traffic from Mumbai, has decided to help those wishing to book parcel vans get passes to transport goods in dedicated trains.
Typically, goods would be booked on parcel vans attached to long-distance passenger trains. Since they have been suspended amid the lockdown, Indian Railways decided to run dedicated trains to carry essential commodities such as medical equipment, packed edible oils, and biscuits.
Ravinder Bhakar, chief public relations officer, WR, said they had appointed one nodal officer in each division to help traders get administrative approval to receive passes for movement of goods or labourers.
Railway officials said while they were running exclusive services, the response was poor. “The key issue with vendors is labourers and passes. Unlike normal freight operations, where loading and unloading happens close to its final destination such as port, with parcels, traders need to transport their goods to specific train stations,” an official said.
For the first time in its history, Indian Railways is running parcel trains according to a timetable with trains departing at specific times during a week from different stations. The WR will be running 12 pairs of parcel trains in the coming weeks, while the Central Railway will run seven pairs. For the CR, the main hub for parcel traffic is Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus.