The South East Central Railways (SECR) ran the Super Vasuki to commemorate India’s 75th Independence Day on 15th August, and mark the beginning of ‘Amrit Kaal’. The train is India’s longest at 3.5km with 6 locomotive engines and 295 wagons, and weighs 25,962 tonnes. Ashwin Vaishnaw, the Union Minister for Railways, took to Twitter and shared a video of the train.
To mark the Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav celebration, all the 295 wagons of the Super Vasuki were loaded with nearly 27,000 tonnes of coal. This also made a historic moment as the highest ever fuel transportation by Indian Railways in a single train arrangement – thrice than what a normal freight journey of coal amounts to. The Super Vasuki was run between Korba in Chhattisgarh and Rajnandgao in Nagpur, and took almost 4 minutes to cross each station in between. The distance between the two stations located 267 kilometers apart, was covered in 11.20 hours.
According to PTI, the Railways plans to use trains like these more frequently, especially to transport coal in peak demand season to prevent fuel shortages of power stations.
