As a great initiative, the Indian Railways successfully operated two long haul freight trains ¡°Trishul" and ¡°Garuda" for the first time over South Central Railway(SCR).?
Long haul trains, which are twice or multiple times longer than the normal composition of freight trains, provide a very effective solution to the problem of capacity constraints in critical sections.
Railway Ministry tweeted, "For the first time, South Central Railways has operated "Trishul", long haul Goods train clubbing together three Goods trains. It was formed at Vijayawada and operated as a single train up to Duvvada station. The initiative was taken to speed up the operation of Goods trains."
Trishul is SCR¡¯s first long haul comprising of three freight trains, i.e., 177 wagons. This train was started on October 7, 2021, from the Kondapalli station of the Vijayawada division to the Khurda division of the East Coast Railway. SCR followed it up with the running of yet another similar one named Garuda on October 8 from Raichur of Guntakal division to Manuguru of Secunderabad division.?
In both cases, the long haul trains comprised of empty open wagons for loading of coal meant for predominantly thermal power stations.
Saving of path across congested routes, quicker transit time, maximizing the throughput of critical sections, saving in crews are the major operational benefits of running long haul trains, which help IR serve its freight customers better.
Note that Railways' South Eastern Central Railway (SECR) zone has the record of operating the longest freight train on the Indian Railways network. The total length of the freight train was around 3.5 kilometers after joining the five rakes and it was named 'Vasuki'.