Coronavirus: Parcel trains bring revenue to railways

The earnings of the India Railways from the passenger segment became nil due to the suspension of passenger train services due to COVID-19, but the national transporter is earning revenue from parcel trains, which are carrying essential items.

The railways operating 507 parcel trains on 67 routes across the country and so for it transported 20,400 tonne of consignments.

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The railways earned about Rs 7.54 crores from parcel trains since March 24, said, railway official.

The railways ensured parcel vans available for quick transportation of essential items in small parcel sizes to supplement the supply chain during the lockdown, said the official.

Essential items including medical supplies, medical equipment, food, milk powder in small parcel sizes are going to be very important during the lockdown in the wake of COVID-19. In order to fill in this vital need, Indian Railways has made railway parcel vans available for quick mass transportation by E-Commerce entities and other customers including State governments, said the official.

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The national transporter also decided to run time-tabled Parcel Special trains on select routes, to ensure uninterrupted supply connecting between major cities of the country, including Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Bengaluru and Hyderabad.

Earning of the railways already take hit due to suspension of passengers trains. It has to forgo around Rs 1,490 crore revenue due to cancellation of 94 lakh tickets booked for travel between March 24 to May 3.