September 29, 2020: The Railways is considering linking its Kisan Trains with seasonal fruits and vegetables to benefit small farmers, senior ministry officials said Sunday, even as a political storm rages over the new farm bills that promise one nation one market.
First off the mark could be an Orange Special Kisan Train between Nagpur and Delhi and a Keenu Special from Punjab to West Bengal and Odisha during December and January, the officials said.
The Kisan Rail services were launched last month and have so far carried around 4,100 tonne of goods from farmers to markets across the country.
The officials said they are still finalising details, but added that they have received feedback from zonal railways about the viability of running dedicated trains linking them with seasonal produce.
“The Orange and Keenu special trains are likely to be the first ones to take off,” a senior official told.
“We want to ensure that these trains are beneficial to small scale farmers who are not able to book the entire train,” he said. “They can book as little as they want and still avail these services.”
Data available shows that the smallest consignment carried by Kisan Rail was a 3 kg pomegranate packet from Nasik to Muzaffarpur, and around 17 dozen eggs from Manmad to Khandwa on August 14.
The Railways officials said that the three Kisan Rails in operation — between Devlali-Danapur, Anantpur-Delhi and Yashwantpur-Nizamuddin — are running on 85 per cent capacity.
Besides the Orange Special and the Keenu Special, on the anvil are also: Mango Special (Andhra Pradesh to Delhi between April to June), Onion Special (Nashik to Delhi, during March and December), Banana Special (Jalgaon to Delhi, during March and December); and Chiku Special (Surat, Valsad, Navsari to Delhi) between April-November.
Officials said that the farther the goods are sent, the cheaper the cost of ferrying them.
Within a distance of 0-500 km, the Railways services are expensive, but they are at par with the roadways for over 1,000 km distance, they said, adding that for over 2,000 km, the Railways is cheaper than the roadways by at least Rs 1,000 per tonne.
These Kisan Trains will be part of the zero-based time table that will be in effect soon, so even if regular services begin post-COVID-19, these trains will have dedicated routes and paths to operate on.
Source: Economic Times
