GUWAHATI, Oct 14 - Maligaon-headquartered Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR) unloaded 812 rakes of freight carrying trains during the month of September.
�During September, a total of 527 rakes of freight carrying trains were unloaded in Assam, of which 322 rakes were loaded with essential commodities. In addition, 32 rakes in Nagaland, 58 rakes in Tripura, 87 rakes in West Bengal and 96 rakes in Bihar were also unloaded during last month within the jurisdiction of the zone to meet the requirement of people of this region,� NFR Chief Public Relations Officer (CPRO) Subhanan Chanda said.
He added that in Assam 109 rakes loaded with Food Corporation of India (FCI) items, 79 rakes of cement, 40 rakes of automobiles, 27 rakes of sugar, 19 rakes of fertiliser and 40 rakes of petroleum products were unloaded.
In Tripura, 12 rakes of FCI items, two rakes of cement, two rakes of sugar, three rakes of petroleum products, three rakes of automobiles and one rake of salt were unloaded.
In Arunachal Pradesh two rakes of FCI items and two rakes of petroleum products were unloaded, while in the Bihar portion of NFR 70 rakes of cement, 31 rakes of FCI items, 12 rakes of fertiliser, 13 rakes of salt and four rakes of sugar were unloaded.
In North Bengal portion of NFR, 50 rakes of FCI items, 60 rakes of cement, 31 rakes of fertiliser, six rakes of salt, five rakes of sugar and 16 rakes of petroleum products were unloaded during September.
�Improved terminal handling facility and improvement in mobility due to enhanced maintenance efforts and continuous monitoring at all levels resulted in reduction in turnaround time and increased unloading. The average speed of goods carrying trains in the NFR has also increased. During these challenging times of the COVID-19 pandemic, Indian Railways has played a significant role in providing its uninterrupted services for transportation of all essential commodities and life-saving drugs and medical equipment,� said Chanda.
He added, �It is evident that huge transportation of food-grains, petroleum, oil and lubricants (POL) and other essentials and various other items by NFR was the main reason for avoiding any scarcity of such items within its service area during the lockdown.�
NFR transported more than 4,500 inbound freight trains from March 25 to September 30 this year.
�Goods like FCI rice, sugar, salt, edible oil, POL, foodgrains, fodder, pulses, fertiliser, cement, coal, stone chips, iron and steel, potato, onion, sand, gypsum, maize, automobiles and container are being transported regularly to not only meet the essential requirement of common people but also to keep the local economic activity of all the north-eastern states going,� Chanda said.
