Bengaluru, Nov 25 (IANS): South Western Railway's (SWR) Divisional Railway Manager, Ashok Kumar Verma, on Tuesday flagged off the first export-bound New Modified Goods (NMG) rake from the Hosur railway station to neighbouring Bangladesh.
This is the first NMG rake dispatched by the South Western Railway to Bangladesh.
Speaking to reporters, Verma said the rake consisting of 25 wagons loaded with 100 light commercial vehicles (LCVs) is called "Dost" and has been manufactured by Ashok Leyland. It left for Benapole railway station in Bangladesh.
He said that transportation of automobiles by train is safer and faster compared to transportation by road. "Nont only it is safe and cheaper, but it is also easy to monitor the movement of the consignment in trains with real-time check in practice," he said.
The SWR in a statement claimed that earlier, the Bengaluru division had dispatched two export-bound NMG rakes to Nautanwa (Nepal) from the Penukonda railway station. "Overall, the division has loaded 128 NMG rakes during the current financial year," the statement added.
Verma said the Bengaluru division, which was mainly transporting raw materials and essential commodities, took to loading of automobiles for the first time when it transported 175 tractors from the Doddaballapur railway station to Phuleria in Rajasthan on April 29 this year.
Upbeat about change in the recent policies such as two points unloading of NMG rakes and exemption of terminal charges for automobiles, Verma said that these policy changes have certainly boosted the loading of automobiles by India in Railways.
"In 2020-21, five NMG rakes have been loaded from Hosur. Apart from the rake that left for Bangladesh today, 5,528 two-wheelers have been sent in four rakes to Mandideep in Madhya Pradesh," the Verma said.
The SWR statement added that during the current year, 65 rakes of automobiles manufactured by TAFE, mainly tractors, have been transported by train from the Doddaballapur railway station near Bengaluru.
Till date, a total of 5,600 cars have been transported to Farukh Nagar in Haryana and Nautanwa in Uttar Pradesh from Penukonda in 55 rakes.