The Indian Railways has transported over 6400 tons of apples from Kashmir to other parts of the country in the past couple of days, as the vital Srinagar-Jammu highway was badly damaged due to rains and hundreds of apple-laden trucks remained stranded on the road.
Uchit Singhal, senior divisional commercial manager, said on Saturday that the Jammu Division of Northern Railways is continuing to operate parcel trains carrying apples from Kashmir to Delhi.
The service commenced on September 11, with two parcel van coaches. One was destined for Jammu and the other for Adarsh Nagar, Delhi. Each parcel van coach was loaded with approximately 23 tons of goods. This was considered a historic achievement, as a parcel van coach first reached Adarsh Nagar, Delhi, from Budgam Railway Station in less than 21 hours, and another in Jammu in less than 6 hours.
Subsequently, on September 15, Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha flagged off an eight-parcel van coach train (each with a weight capacity of 23 tons) from Srinagar to Adarsh Nagar, Delhi. These eight parcel van trains reached their destination, Delhi, in a significantly faster time than road transport.
Continuing this trend, over 6,400 tons of apples have been transported from Kashmir to Adarsh Nagar, Delhi, with the supply of both BCN covered wagons and parcel coaches from Anantnag Goods Shed Terminal in the Kashmir Valley.
The parcel train service, recently launched in the Kashmir Valley, has successfully facilitated the transportation of apples. Expanding this parcel train to transport other goods, over 500 tons of mustard oil and other food items have been transported from Bari Brahmana (Jammu) to Budgam so far, ensuring that essential supplies are not affected due to the disruption in road connectivity.
Regarding the frequent parcel cargo trains in the Kashmir Valley, Singhal said, the Railways’ intervention has been helpful to traders and growers in transporting their apples. He further added that the Railways will soon commence the operation of parcel train services with parcel rakes from the Baramulla Railway Station terminal.