Railways tests longest freight train on Independence Day

The Indian Railways, as part of the Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav celebration, tested its longest freight train Super Vasuki on August 15.

The 3.5 km long train, powered by five locomotives, carried a total trailing load of about 27,000 tonne of coal in 295 loaded wagons. Super Vasuki ran from Bhilai to Korba in Chhattisgarh, and it took about four minutes to clear the length of a station.

The train was operated by South East Central Railway headquartered at Bilaspur. “This was the highest fuel transportation ever carried by the Indian Railway in a single train arrangement,” the railways said in the statement.

Although the national transporter operated long freight trains last year, too, under the names of Vasuki and Trishul, they were smaller than Super Vasuki; the lengths of the earlier trains extended up to 2.8 km. It was nothing like the 3.5 km of the latest version, said an official from the railways.

The train was formed by amalgamating five rakes of goods trains as one unit. The coal carried by Super Vasuki is enough to fire 3000 MW of power plant for an entire day. This is more than three times the capacity of existing railway rakes (90 wagons with 100 tonne in each) that carries about 9,000 tonne of coal in one journey.

To transport dry fuel, especially during peak season, the railways is working towards being able to operate more such longer freight trains frequently, said the railway official.

This year, several parts of the country witnessed severe shortage of power due to increased demand. Several states blamed the railways for not supplying rakes to transport coal to meet the demand.

Railways generate most of its freight revenue from transportation of coal—45 to 47 per cent—and at present, on an average, 430 to 450 rakes transport coal to thermal power stations every day.

As per the budget presented by finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman on February 1, 2022, in this financial year of 2022-23, about 46 per cent of the total coal freight volume is estimated to be for thermal power plants.

Railways’ internal revenue for 2022-23 is estimated at Rs 2.4 lakh crore—an increase of 19 per cent over the revised estimates of 2021-22. Freight revenue is estimated to be Rs 1.65 lakh crore in 2022-23—an increase of 14 per cent over the revised estimates of 2021-22.

The railway recorded a 20.4 per cent growth in its coal transportation in the 2021-22 financial year over the previous fiscal, the national transporter said.

Compared to the 542 million tonnes in 2020-21 fiscal, the railways loaded a record 653 million tonnes of coal in 2021-22, an increase of 111 million tonnes, it announced.