Fulfilling the budget promise, Indian Railways would operationalise the Kisan Rail, a special parcel train service for farmers, for hassle-free transportation of perishable farm products at affordable price.
The first Kisan Rail, will be flagged off on Friday morning from Devlali (Maharashtra) to Danapur (Bihar) through video conferencing by Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar and Railways Minister Piyush Goyal amid the presence of other dignitaries from Maharashtra.
The train will run on a weekly basis and it will reach Danapur the next day covering the journey of 1519 kms in 31 hours and 45 minutes.
In the Union Budget 2020-21, the Finance Minister had made an announcement ‘to build a seamless national cold supply chain for perishables, inclusive of milk, meat, and fish’. It was also stated that the Indian Railways will set up a Kisan Rail.
The service is expected to be a great help to the farmers as freight of this train will be charged as per parcel tariff of normal train.
Providing a seamless supply chain of perishable produce, the train is a step towards realizing the goal of doubling farmers’ incomes by 2022. 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.
Over Central Railway, Bhusawal Division is primarily an Agro-based division. Nasik and the surrounding region produces huge quantities of fresh vegetables, fruits, flowers, other perishables, onions and other agro products.
These perishables are mainly transported to areas around Patna, Prayagraj, Katni, and Satna.
The train has been provided scheduled halts at Nasik Road, Manmad, Jalgaon, Bhusaval, Burhanpur, Khandwa, Itarsi, Jabalpur, Satna, Katni, Manikpur, Prayagraj Chheoki, Pandit Deendayal Upadhyay Nagar and Buxar.
Railways have earlier run single commodity special trains like Banana Specials etc. But this will be the first ever multi commodity trains and will carry fruits like Pomegranate, Banana, Grapes etc and vegetables like Capsicum, Cauliflower, Drumsticks, Cabbage, Onion, Chillies etc.
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.