Railways successfully runs 2 km long 'Anaconda' train

Indian Railways has made history by successfully running a 2 km-long freight train, which aimed at making goods transport cost-effective.

South East Central Railway (SECR), headquartered at Bilaspur, has successfully run a nearly 2 km long haul train between Bhilai and Korba railway stations on Monday.

The triple long haul train called as ‘Anaconda on Rails’, was run by diesel crew, a loco pilot and an assistant loco pilot, said railway officials. Usually, a freight train is 700 meters long.

"Technology breaking new grounds - SECR ran nearly 2 km long Long haul train, named Anaconda, originating from Raipur division, feeding NBOX empty rakes for coal loading at Korba,” South East Central Railway, tweeted.

The SECR connected three goods trains using the latest technology of Distributed Power Control System (DPCS) where the leading (front) diesel loco (engine) can control the entire train, said the railway officials.

"The benefit of technology lies in using one set of crew guard for the entire set through use of DPCS technology. DPCS on long haul has multiple benefits of saving path and crew," the railways tweeted.

Earlier this year, East Coast Railway Zone headquartered at Bhubaneswar conducted a trial run of a two-km freight train in Odisha.

The train, comprising 147 wagons, three brake/guard vans and four engines ran between Godbhaga and Balangir railway stations covering 145 km.

"The national transport is conducting an experiment of running a long freight train to reduce manpower, ease congestion on tracks and make goods transport cost-effective," said the official.