Asia’s second-largest railway transporter, the Indian Railways introduced the first ‘Kisan Rail’ or farmers' service from Devlali to Danapur today on Friday from Devlali. The train was flagged off via video conferencing by the Union Minister of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Rural Development and Panchyati Raj, Narendra Singh Tomar and Minister of Railways and Commerce & Industry, Piyush Goyal.
A weekly service, the train will reach Danapur at 1845 hrs on Saturday covering the journey of 1519 km in 31.45 hrs.
Speaking on the occasion, Tomar said, “Kisan Rail will ensure that agro-products reach from one corner to another corner of the country. This train will also benefit farmers and consumers.”
Tomar also praised the Railways for the maintenance of the foodgrains supply chain during these times of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Goyal said, “This train will serve as a milestone in doubling farmers’ income. Indian Railways and farmers had been in the forefront in the battle against the COVID challenge. Foodgrains freight was doubled during the period.”
Nasik and surrounding regions produce a huge quantity of fresh vegetables, fruits, flowers, onions and other agro products. These perishables are mainly transported to areas around Patna, Prayagraj, Katni and Satna.
This train has been provided scheduled halts at Nasik Road, Manmad, Jalgaon, Bhusaval, Burhanpur, Khandwa, Itarsi, Jabalpur, Satna, Katni, Manikpur, Prayagraj Chheoki, Pt. Deendayal Upadhyay Nagar and Buxar. The service 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.
The Railways has earlier run single commodity special trains like ‘Banana Specials’ etc. But this will be the first-ever multi-commodity train and will carry fruits like pomegranate, banana, grapes, etc., and vegetables like capsicum, cauliflower, drumsticks, cabbage, onion, chilly, etc. The service is being aggressively marketed to local farmers, loaders, Agricultural Produce Market Committees (APMCs) and individuals.
