Western Railway flags off first spice freight rake from Gujarat to Assam

Western Railway dispatched its first-ever 'Deemed VP Rake' of spices from Gujarat's Mehsana to Assam's Azara. The train carried 420 tonnes of cumin seeds, generating over Rs 25.28 lakh in freight revenue for the Railways.

Western Railway flagged off the first "Deemed VP Rake" loaded with cumin seeds from Mehsana station to Azara station in Assam under the Rangiya Division of Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR), marking a significant development in freight transportation from Gujarat.

According to a release by Western Railway on Wednesday, the Deemed VP Rake comprised 30 BCN wagons and carried 4,200 quintals of cumin seeds over a distance of approximately 2,477 kilometres. A total of 13,800 packages of spices were loaded in the rake, with the total consignment weighing around 4,20,000 kilograms (420 tonnes). The operation generated freight revenue of more than Rs 25.28 lakh for the Railways. This marks a historic achievement for Ahmedabad Division, as organised rail transportation of spices has been carried out for the first time in this sector.

Boosting Regional Trade and Rail Transport

Officials said the initiative will directly connect Gujarat's spice industry with markets in Northeast India, strengthening trade linkages across regions. The Western Railway further stated that the initiative will promote rail transport as a safe, economical and environmentally friendly mode of freight movement. It is also expected to provide major convenience to traders and exporters and open up opportunities for similar long-distance freight operations in the future.

As per Western Railway, the successful operation of this Deemed VP Rake reflects Ahmedabad Division's excellent freight handling capability, efficient logistics management, and customer-oriented services. As per the release, the Ahmedabad Division remains focused on expanding freight operations and improving logistical efficiency to meet growing commercial demands across sectors.

Major Communication Infrastructure Upgrade

In a separate development, Indian Railways on April 5 sanctioned an important project for strengthening its communication infrastructure in Western Railway with the approval of the provision of 4x48 Optical Fibre Cable (OFC) Backbone in Ahmedabad and Ratlam Divisions at a total cost of Rs 398.36 crore.

The project has been approved under the umbrella work titled "Provision of Kavach with communication backbone of Long Term Evolution (LTE) on balance routes of Indian Railways (Umbrella Work 2024-25)", which has an overall sanctioned cost of Rs 27,693 crore under Works Programme 2024-25 (PH-33). A sub-umbrella work for Western Railway has also been approved at a cost of Rs 2,800 crore, under which this project has been taken up. This significant augmentation of the communication backbone will enhance the capacity, reliability, and efficiency of railway communication systems. It will also support modern signalling systems, including the implementation of Kavach, enabling seamless data transmission across the network. (ANI)

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