In the Union Budget 20-21, Ministry of Finance had made an announcement to build a seamless national cold supply chain for perishables and the setting up of Kisan Rail to enable the same.
With regards to that, the Indian Railways today at 11:00 hrs introduced the first Kisan Rail from Devlali in Maharashtra to Danapur in Bihar via video conferencing.
The train will run on weekly basis with initial composition of 10+1 VPs and it will reach Danapur at 18:45 hrs on next day covering the journey of 1519 kms in 31 hrs 45 mins.
The Kisan Rail is a step towards realizing the goal of doubling farmers income by 2022 and will also provide a seamless supply chain of perishable produce including milk, meat and fish.
“Indian Railways aims to help double farmers’ income with the launch of Kisan Rail. This train will help in bringing perishable agricultural products like vegetables, 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,” said the official statement.
Earlier, Indian Railways have run single commodity special trains like Banana Specials etc. However, this will be the first-ever multi-commodity train and will carry fruits like Pomegranate, Banana, Grapes etc, and vegetables like Capsicum, Cauliflower, Drumsticks, Cabbage, Onion, Chillies etc.
To promote the new initiative 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).
