Railways operates 237-wagon single freight train ‘SheshNaag’ to mitigate coal crisis in the country

RAIPUR: South East Central Railway (SECR) zone, headquartered in Bilaspur (Chhattisgarh), enhanced the swift operation by clubbing together four freight trains into one unit to ease the crisis of coal shortage faced by the thermal power plants.

Amid the ongoing coal crisis this is the first time, a single long haul freight train was operated by the Railways as  ‘Super Shesh-Naag’—powered by 4 electric locomotives & amalgamating four freight trains supplying the coal to power plants with critically low stock.

Twelve crew members from the most profit-making zone SECR operated the single goods train comprising of 237 wagons loaded with coal that initially covered a distance of 350 km from Korba district in Chhattisgarh to Nagpur on Tuesday.

Korba happens to be India’s biggest coal and power-producing district and alone produces 16.56 percent of the country’s coal.

The Chhattisgarh-based South Eastern Coalfield Limited (SECL), an undertaking of Coal India Limited, has been pressed into action to further increase daily production by 1.25 lakh ton. The SECL is supplying coal to 7 major states.

However, the commuters from mineral-rich Chhattisgarh, find themselves in a distressing situation following a recent month-long cancellation of over 32 passenger trains on different dates by the Railway Board apparently to make way for the movement of coal freight purportedly to alleviate the power crisis in several states.