Railways loads, transports record 112 rakes of grain

 The Indian Railways, which has been transporting essential items across the country, on Wednesday achieved record grain loading of 112 rakes, which is equivalent to 3.13 lakh tonnes.

A railway ministry spokesperson said, here on Thursday, the national transporter continued to make efforts to ensure availability of essential commodities, like grain, through its freight services during the lockdown.

"To ensure that kitchens of all Indian homes continue to run normally, on April 22 the railways did record grain loading of 112 rakes, beating previous best loading of 92 rakes on April 9 and 89 rakes on April 14 and April 18," he said.

The spokesperson said between April 1 and April 22, it loaded and transported 4.58 million tonnes grain against 1.82 million tonnes for the same period last year.

He said efforts were being made to ensure on-time collection and supply of farm products, like grain, during the lockdown.

The railways has suspended passenger, mail and express train services and is running only freight and special parcel trains to ensure the supply of essential items across the country. IANS