Dhanbad division of East Central Railway has witnessed a significant increase in transport of goods through trains during the lockdown. The most significant increase in loading has been recorded from Koderma railway station which is an important station of the division.

Talking to the media on Tuesday, Senior Divisional Commercial Manager of Dhanbad Division, Akhilesh Kumar Pandey said, “The efforts of business development unit of the division to contact the traders and other stakeholders and convincing them about the advantages of the railway mode of transport have led to an increase in the parcel loading.”

Divulging more details, Pandey said that the parcel income through Koderma has increased three-fold during the current year.

“Besides the increase in transport of minerals like coal and mica the division has also witnessed an increase in transport of other goods like food grains, etc. and the division is gearing up to send a railway rake full of food materials to Samalkot railway station of East Godavari district of Andhra Pradesh soon,” said Pandey.

Notably, the business development unit constituted as per the directive of Railway Board at divisional level across the country, comprising of senior divisional commercial manager, senior divisional finance manager, senior divisional mechanical engineer, senior divisional operating manager, and senior divisional engineer (coordination) are primarily working on all possibility of increasing the freight loading as well as parcel loading during the lockdown period.

All this as the income of Indian Railways through passenger earning has been adversely affected due to the complete halting of operation of passenger trains during the initial period of lockdown and restricted operation during the later days of lockdown.

“Our team of ground inspectors deputed at different stations are also working with existing as well as prospective customers apprising them about the convenience of goods transport through railways over road transport and also solving their issues, if any,” elaborated Pandey.

Notably, Indian Railways has also developed a Freight Business Development portal (www.fois.indianrail.gov.in/RailSAHAY) for the convenience of freight loading customers through which they can get all the details regarding time table, freight charges, the distance between loading and unloading stations, railway routes, etc.

Through the GIS-based system, the customers can also get details of the current location of their consignment through the Track & Trace system of the portal. The stakeholders also, post their suggestions with regard to transportation and freight loading system by logging on the portal which in turn helps the railway to improve the transportation work.