Kisan Rail List | All Kisan Rail List
- The ‘Kisan Rail’ with refrigerated coaches that will be introduced by Indian Railways, as announced by the Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman
- To boost transport of farm produce and incomes, the Budget proposes Kisan Rail services for seamless connections between farms
Railway Ministry working in structured way on setting up of Kisan Rail, says Railway Board Chairman
Railway Ministry has said that it is working in a structured way on the setting up of Kisan Rail as proposed by the Finance Minister in the Budget.
Briefing reporters, Railway Board Chairman Vinod Kumar Yadav said, the Railways is also planning to expand the Kisan Rail across the country.
Mr Yadav said, the aim of the government is to make Railway, the growth of engine for the country’s economy. He said, government has also enhanced the investment and will modernize its network across the country in the next five years.
Kisan Rail for seamless National Cold Supply Chain for perishables
Indian Railways’ initiatives for the Development of Cold Chain for Transportation of Perishable Traffic
In keeping with the Hon’ble Prime Minister’s commitment towards “Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas, Sabka Vishwas”, the Union budget 2020-2021 has reiterated that the government is committed to the goal of doubling farmers’ incomes by 2022. Prosperity to farmers can be ensured by making farming competitive. For this, purchase of farm produce, logistics and agri‐services need copious investments. Farmers desire integrated solutions covering storage, financing, processing and marketing.
The budget proposes that “To build a seamless national cold supply chain for perishables, inclusive of milk, meat and fish, the Indian Railways will set up a “Kisan Rail”- through PPP arrangements. There shall be refrigerated coaches in Express and Freight trains as well.”
Towards fulfillment of the budget proposals, following are the major initiatives which have already been taken by Indian Railways regarding Development of Cold Chain for Transportation of Perishable Traffic
Refrigerated Parcel Vans: New design of Refrigerated Parcel Vans (VPR, carrying capacity of 17 tonnes) for transportation of highly perishable parcel traffic was developed, and procured through Rail Coach Factory Kapurthala. At present, Indian Railway has a fleet of nine (09) Refrigerated Parcel Vans available.
These Refrigerated Parcel Vans are booked on round-trip basis, and are charged at 1.5 times the freight of normal VP as per category of train.
Reefer (Ventilated Insulated) Rail Containers: 98 Ventilated Insulated Containers (Carrying capacity 12 Tonnes per container, rake composition 80 containers) have been procured, through CONCOR, for movement of fruits and vegetables to different parts of the country.
Cold Storage Facilities for Perishables: ‘Temperature controlled perishable cargo centres’ have been commissioned at Ghazipur Ghat (U.P), New Azadpur (Adarsh Nagar, Delhi) and Raja ka Talab (U.P) as a pilot project under Kisan Vision Project by CONCOR under CSR initiative. Another project is under construction at Lasalgaon, Nasik (Maharashtra).
Approval has been granted to Central Railside Warehousing Corporation (CRWC) to develop temperature controlled storages at Fatuha and Mancheswar.
Cold storage facility has also been developed at Dadri. Fresh & Healthy Enterprise Ltd. (FHEL) has been redeveloped as Agriculture Logistic Center at Rai, Sonepat. This facility is CONCOR’s 100% own subsidiary developed in an area of 16.40 acres of land.
In his Independence Day speech 2019, Hon’ble Prime Minister had highlighted that Rs. 100 lakh crore would be invested on infrastructure over the next 5 years. As a follow up measure, the National Infrastructure Pipeline was launched on 31st December 2019. It consists of more than 6500 projects across sectors and are classified as per their size and stage of development. These new projects will also include modern railway stations, metro and railway transportation, logistics and warehousing etc.
Indian Railways have so far operated Kisan Rail services on eighteen routes.
As per the announcement made in the Union Budget 2020-21, Indian Railways has started running Kisan Rail train services, to transport perishables and agri-product, including milk, meat and fish.
This is multi-commodity, multi-consignor/consignee, multi-loading/unloading transportation product which is aimed at providing wider market to Kisan.
The primary objective of running Kisan Rail trains is to increase the income in farm sector by connecting production centers to markets and consumption centers.
Railways have been actively pursuing with various stake holders – including Ministry of Agriculture, state governments, and local bodies – to plan roll out of Kisan Rail services. Based on demand pattern and feedback received from stakeholders, Railways have so far operated Kisan Rail services on eighteen routes.
The first Kisan Rail train was flagged-off on 07.08.2020 between Devlali (Mah) and Danapur (Bihar).
These Kisan Rail trains are run on time-tabled paths, and their punctuality is strictly monitored to avoid any en-route detentions and delays. These services have been introduced on 18 (eighteen) routes so far. Till 22nd Jan, 157 services of Kisan Rail have been run, transporting more than 49,000 Tonnes of consignments. Routes on which Kisan Rail trains have been operated so far are as under:
Route No | From – To | Date of Inauguration |
1 | Devlali to Danapur (now Sangola to Muzaffarpur) | 07-08-2020 |
2 | Anantpur to Adarshnagar, Delhi | 09-09-2020 |
3 | Yeshwantpur to Nizamuddin | 19-09-2020 |
4 | Nagpur to Adarshnagar, Delhi | 14-10-2020 |
5 | Chhindwara to Howrah/New Tinsukia | 28-10-2020 |
6 | Sangola to Howrah (via Secunderabad) | 29-10-2020 |
7 | Sangola to Shalimar | 21-11-2020 |
8 | Indore to New Guwahati | 24-11-2020 |
9 | Ratlam to New Guwahati | 05-12-2020 |
10 | Indore to Agartala | 27-12-2020 |
11 | Jalandhar to Jirania | 31-12-2020 |
12 | Nagarsol to New Guwahati | 05-01-2021 |
13 | Nagarsol to Chitpur | 07-01-2021 |
14 | Nagarsol to New Jalpaiguri | 10-01-2021 |
15 | Nagarsol to Naugachia | 11-01-2021 |
16 | Nagarsol to Fatuha | 13-01-2021 |
17 | Nagarsol to Baihata | 19-01-2021 |
18 | Nagarsol to Malda Town | 20-01-2021 |
Utilization of these services is being monitored on a regular basis to ensure optimal utilization of Railway stock (Parcel Vans).
Primary commodities being transported via Kisan Rail are onion, tomato, oranges, potato, pomegranate, banana, custard-apple, carrots, capsicum, and other vegetables.
Commodities booked via Kisan Rail trains are charged at ‘P’-scale of parcel tariff. Under‘Operation Greens – TOP to Total’scheme of Ministry of Food Processing Industries a subsidy of 50% is being granted on the transportation of fruits and vegetables via Kisan Rail. This subsidy is being granted upfront at the time of booking itself, to the consignors/farmers – so that the benefit reaches the farmers without any hassles or procedural delays.
A Detailed Project Report for running Kisan Rail trains is also under preparation, through M/s RITES, which will assess important aspects of the project so as to obtain efficiency and economies of scales.