The lockdown owing to the coronavirus outbreak has turned into a boon for the Ambala Division of Northern Railway. The railway division recorded a revenue of over Rs 119.52 crore through its freight operations since March 23, when the nationwide lockdown was imposed.
Normally, the division operates 250 goods rakes every month from the different stations, however, in the last one month, around 510 rakes have operated from various stations to different parts of the country. One rake contains contains 40 to 50 bogies, which can carry about 3,000 to 3,500 tonnes of grains. Most of these goods trains ran towards North-East, Jharkhand, Eastern UP, and Bihar.
Ambala DRM Gurinder Mohan Singh said, “Since March 23, we have earned over Rs 100 crore revenue through freight operations. Food Corporation of India (FCI) has become one of our big customers. Since the lockdown was introduced, railway has become a more suitable mode of goods transportation and we are encashing this opportunity. About 204 rakes of food grains, 20 rakes of fertilisers, 30 rakes of container traffic and two rakes of de-oiled cake were transported.”