Kudos! This is what Indian Railways is doing to ensure supply of essential goods

The Indian Railways has introduced 109 timetabled parcel trains for nationwide transportation of essential goods and commodities, providing a major relief as the 21-day nationwide lockdown due to coronavirus outbreak continues. This step by the Indian Railways is likely to boost the availability of vital goods required for ordinary citizens, industry and agriculture during the coronavirus outbreak.

The Railways have identified around 58 routes for these parcel trains. Till April 5, 27 routes were notified, out of which 17 routes were regular scheduled services, while the remaining were for single trips only.

"Subsequently, 40 new routes have been identified and notified (and frequency of some of the previous routes has been increased). With this, almost all the important cities of India will get connected for transportation of vital goods at a fast speed. It may be noted that these services are expected to be further scaled up," railways said in a statement.

The trains can be used by local industries, e-commerce companies, interested groups, individuals and any other prospective loaders to book parcels.

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These trains will connect vital corridors like Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Hyderabad, and Bengaluru. In addition, proper connectivity has also been ensured to Guwahati to ensure supplies in the Northeastern region of the country. Other important cities connected via these trains are Bhopal, Allahabad, Dehradun, Varanasi, Ahmedabad, Vadodara, Ranchi, Gorakhpur, Thiruvananthapuram, Salem, Warangal, Vijayawada, Vishakhapatnam, Rourkela, Bilaspur, Bhusawal, Tatanagar, Jaipur, Jhansi, Agra, Nasik, Nagpur, Akola, Jalgaon, Surat, Pune, Raipur, Patna, Asansol, Kanpur, Jaipur, Bikaner, Ajmer, Gwalior, Mathura, Nellore, Jabalpur.

"Time-tabled parcel trains are being run even on those routes where demand is less so that no part of the country remains unconnected. Some trains are being run with only two parcel vans, or with one parcel van and brake van," the railways said.