While the country is completely locked down due to the pandemic of coronavirus, Indian Railways continues to work round the clock to ensure availability of essential commodities through its uninterrupted freight services.

The Indian Railway loaded 684 rakes and 35,319 wagons on Sunday out of which 437 rakes and 24,202 wagons were full of essential commodities.

A senior railway official said that 40 rakes and 1727 wagons were loaded with food grains, five rakes and 210 wagons of sugar, one rake and 42 wagons of salt, one rake and 42 wagons of edible oil, 363 rakes and 20,904 wagons of coal, 27 rakes and 1277 wagons of petroleum products.

Similarly, on Saturday, 695 rakes and 35,942 wagons were loaded out of which 442 rakes and 24412 wagons were loaded with essential commodities (One wagon contains 58-60 ton consignment). “This includes 54 rakes and 2,405 wagons of food grains, three rakes and 126 wagons of sugar, one rake and 42 wagons of salt, one rake and 50 wagons of edible oil, 356 rakes and 20,519 wagons of coal, 27 rakes and 1270 wagons of petroleum products,” the Railways said in a statement.

It may be noted that Ministry of Home Affairs has allowed movement of goods across the country to ensure that supply chain keeps fully operational.

Ministry of Railways and MHA officials are in constant touch with State Governments to sort out operational issues to ensure smooth handling at terminal.

In its continuous effort to fight against COVID – 19, the northern railway workshops have been geared up to manufacture 700 liters sanitizer per day, 700 face masks per day. At least1600 face masks have already been manufactured in northern railway.

In order to ensure availability of essential items to different parts of India and to mitigate the effect of lockdown during COVID -19, Northern railway has decided to run six parcel special trains across India.