MAHESANA JN

W. RLY CREATED WORLD RECORD WITH 1st OF ITS KIND ACHIEVEMENT BY SUCCESSFULLY RUNNING 1st DOUBLE STACK CONTAINER TRAIN IN HIGH RISE OHE ELECTRIFIED SECTIONS

Photo Caption: The crew of electric locomotive with high rise pantographs which hauled the Double Stack Container o­n its maiden journey from Palanpur to Botad o­n 10^th June, 2020, earning it the record of being the first of its kind in the world.

In continuation with the nation's prestigious mission of 100% electrification of Indian Railways, Western Railway has o­nce again been a pioneer by getting yet another historical achievement as a milestone, by commissioning 1st high rise OHE, which has contact wire height of 7.57metre and is a first amongst all Zonal Railways to successfully run double stack containers in electrified territory. This tremendous achievement isa first of its kind in the entire world and will also boost the ambitious mission of GREEN INDIA as a latestgreen initiative over Indian Railways.With this remarkable development, Western Railway has proudly become the first Railwayto run Double Stack Container train with high reach pantograph in high rise OHE territory, the operations of which successfully commenced o­n10^thJune, 2020 from Palanpur & Botad stations in Gujarat. Shri Alok Kansal- General Manager of Western Rly has expressed his pleasure o­n this historical mile stone despite toughest challenges of corona pandemic & lockdown and has congratulated entire TEAM WR for this marvelous & commendable achievement.

According to a press release issued by Shri Ravinder Bhakar- Chief Public Relations Officer of Western Rly, WR has o­nce again proved its excellence, bycommissioning of electrification of railway routes and has achieved highest electrification of 664 RKM among zonal railways during financial year 2019-20. High rise OHE is provided presently in Palanpur- Mahesana- Viramgam – Surendranagar - Botad and Viramgam – Sanand sections of Western Railway, spanning approx. 375 km route in the state of Gujarat. The normal OHE height in Indian Railway & world over is 5.6 m. However, High Rise OHE height is 7.57m which is meant to run double stack containers i.e literally 2 trains load in o­ne train to carry huge container traffic between Delhi and ports of Gujarat state. Shri Bhakar stated that, initially, there were some technical glitches in running electric trains in high rise OHE territory due to wind tunnel effect o­n pantograph, which collects current from overhead wires. As pantograph has to be raised to height of 3.4m in high rise OHE as against about 1.5m in normal, there were heavy sparks while running train above 60 kmph.It caused serious doubts about the design of high rise OHE and its successful adoption.W. Rly’s technical team from Electric locomotives maintenance and Traction Distribution department joined together and carried out extensive trials, instrumentation and investigated the cause of poor current collection. Thereafter, a very simple solution to run locomotive with front panto instead of rear panto as done normally, was provided to overcome such a serious issue. Now, the high rise OHE and electric locomotives have been cleared for maximum sectional speed of 100 kmph in highrise OHE territory. o­n June 10th 2020, WR operated its first Electric train in Rajkot and Bhavnagar divisions, which had High rise OHE. With this excellent achievement, Rajkot & Bhavnagar divisions of Western Rly have now proudly entered o­n the electric traction map of Indian Railways. The electric locomotive successful hauled goods train KIIP/PPSP (Double Stack Container) from Palanpur to Botad, about 275 km, which was maiden trip of double stack container under the wire, first of its kind in the world. This will go a long way in Indian Rly’s green initiative efforts to curb pollution. With the introduction of electric traction, which is pollution free and energy efficient mode of transport, Western Railway is expected to save about Rs.100 crores per annum o­n fuel expenses.To carry 1000 GTKM o­n electric traction, hardly 4.5 unit of electric energy is consumed, which costs about Rs.25 as against 2 liters of HSD oil costing about Rs.150 to carry same load by diesel traction.Thus, there will be substantial saving in expenses of fuel upon electrification of various sections o­n Indian Railways.In addition, electrification will help in improving mobility of trains being more reliable & powerful, thus increase the line capacity to run more trains in the section.

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WR Press Release No. 2020/06 Mumbai, 3^rd June, 2020

WESTERN RAILWAY TO RUN FIVE MORE PARCEL SPECIAL TRAINS WITH   82 TRIPSBETWEEN BANDRA (T) – LUDHIANA, BANDRA (T ) – OKHA,   OKHA – GUWAHATI, DEWAS – JAMMU TAWI & PORBANDAR – SHALIMAR

Western Railway’s Parcel Special trains are continuously o­n the move, as per the timetable, during the lockdown period in the wake of COVID19. Western Railway is fullfilling the responsibility of transporting mostessential items like medical equipments, medicines, food grains etc across the nation, as it has always been fully committed to the needs of its customers. WR is also ensuring the supply of milk and milk products to different parts of the country through its milk special trains. In continuation to this, 5 moreparcel special trains with total 82 trips are scheduled to run between Bandra T- Ludhiana, Bandra T -Okha, Okha – Guwahati, Dewas – Jammu Tawi and Porbandar – Shalimar.

According to a press release issued by Shri Ravinder Bhakar - Chief Public Relations Officer of Western Rly, details of the 5 parcel specials viz Bandra T- Ludhiana, Bandra T – Okha, Okha – Guwahati, Dewas – Jammu Tawi and Porbandar – Shalimar, which are scheduled to be run are as follows :-

●Bandra Terminus – Ludhiana Parcel Special Train (26 trips)

Train No 00901 Bandra Terminus – Ludhiana parcel special train willdepart from Bandra Terminus at 20.00 hrs o­n 4^th, 6^th,8^th,10^th, 12^th, 14^th, 16^th, 18^th, 20^th, 22^nd, 24^th, 26^th & 28^thJune, 2020 and will reach Ludhiana at 03.00 hrs o­n the 3rd day. Similarly, Train No 00902 will leave Ludhiana at 23.30 hrs o­n 6^th, 8^th, 10^th, 12^th, 14^th, 16^th, 18^th, 20^th, 22^nd,24^th, 26^th, 28^th& 30^th June, 2020 and will arrive Bandra Terminus at 06.30 hrs o­n 3rd day. The train will halt at Vapi, Surat, Ankleshwar, Bharuch, Vadodara, Anand, Ahmedabad, Mahesana, Falna, Beawar, Ajmer, Jaipur,Delhi and Ambala stations in both directions.

●Bandra Terminus – Okha Parcel Special Train ( 26 trips)

Train No 00921 Bandra Terminus- Okha Parcel special train will leave from Bandra (T) at 21.30 hrs o­n 4^th, 6^th, 8^th, 10^th, 12^th, 14^th, 16^th, 18^th, 20^th, 22^nd, 24^th, 26^th & 28^th June, 2020 and will reach Okha at 15.00 hrs the next day. Similarly, Train No 00920 Okha – Bandra (T) Parcel special will leave Okha at 13.30 hrs o­n 4^th, 6^th, 8^th, 10^th, 12^th, 14^th, 16^th, 18^th, 20^th, 22^nd, 24^th, 26^th & 28^th June , 2020 & will arrive Bandra (T) at 5.55 hrs the next day. The train will halt at Vapi, Valsad, Surat, Ankleshwar, Bharuch, Vadodara, Anand, Ahmedabad, Viramgam, Rajkot and Jamnagar station in both directions.

●Okha – Guwahati Parcel Special Train (12 trips)

Train No 00949 Okha – Guwahati parcel special train will leave Okha o­n 4^th, 9^th, 14^th, 19^th, 24^th & 29^th June 2020 at 07.15 hrs & will reach Guwahati o­n the third day at 17.00 hrs. Similarly, Train No 00950 Guwahati – Okha parcel special train will leave Guwahati at 16.00 hrs o­n 7^th, 12^th, 17^th,22^nd, 27^thJune & 2^nd July, 2020 & will reach Okha at 01.10 hrs o­n the fourth day. The train will halt at Jamnagar, Rajkot, Surendranagar, Ahmedabad, Anand, Chhayapuri, Ratlam, Kota, Sawai Madhopur, Bayana, Agra Fort, Tundla, Kanpur, Lucknow, Varanasi, Pt Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Jn, Patna, Muzaffarpur Jn, Katihar, New Bongaigaon and Changsari stations in both directions.

●Porbandar – Shalimar Parcel Special Train (16 trips)

Train No 00913 Porbandar – Shalimar parcel special train will leave Porbandar at 8.00 hrs o­n 4^th, 7^th, 10^th, 13^th, 16^th, 19^th, 22^nd, 25^th& 28^th June, 2020 & will reach Shalimar at 03.30 hrs o­n third day. Similarly, Train No 00914 Shalimar – Porbandar parcel special will leave Shalimar at 22.50 hrs o­n 6^th, 10^th, 14^th, 18^th, 22^nd ,26^th & 30^th June, 2020 & will reach Porbandar at 18.25 hrs o­n third day. The train will halt at Jamnagar, Rajkot, Surendra Nagar, Ahmedabad, Anand, Vadodara, Surat, Nandurbar, Bhusaval, Akola, Badnera, Nagpur, Durg, Raipur, Bilaspur, Jharsuguda Jn, Rourkela, Chakaradharpur, Tata Nagar and Kharagpur Jn. stations in both directions.

●Dewas – Jammu Tawi Parcel Special Train (2 trips)

Train No 00931 Dewas – Jammu Tawi parcel special train left Dewas as per its scheduled time at 20.00 hrs o­n 3^rd June 2020 & will reach Jammu Tawi at 02.00 hrs o­n 5^th June, 2020. In its return journey Train No 00932Jammu Tawi – Dewas parcel special train will leave Jammu Tawi at 20.00 hrs o­n 5^thJune 2020 to reach Dewas at 21.30 hrs the next day. The train will halt at Nagda, Sawai Madhopur, Jaipur, New Delhi and Chandigarh in both directions.

Shri Bhakar said that in the financial year 2020-2021, upto 2^nd June, 292 parcel special trains were run with a load of approx. 44 thousand tonnes, thereby generating earnings of 13.82 crore. Similarly, Container & Non container loading for the financial year 2020-2021 upto 2^nd June, 2020 was 4832 rakes with revenue of Rs 1110.48 crore. In the month of April, 2020, total 2174 rakes of container & non container loading was carried out with earnings amounting to Rs 463.69 crore and in May 2020, total of 2482 rakes of container & non container loading was carried out with earnings amounting to Rs 601.44 crore. In the 2 days of June 2020, 177 rakes loading earned Rs 45.35 crore. Whereas, since 22^nd March to 2^ndJune, 2020, total 5294 rakes of goods trains have been used to supply essential commodities amounting to 10.35 million tonnes. 10,424 freight trains were interchanged with other railways, including 5250 trains handed over and 5174 trains taken over at different interchange points.302 Millennium Parcel rakes of Parcel Vans / Railway Milk Tankers (RMTs) in all have been sent to different parts of the country to cope with the demands of essential materials such as milk powder, liquid milk, medical supplies and other general consumer goods. He stated that the total loss of earnings over Western Railway inclusive of suburban & non - suburban sections, since March, 2020, has been Rs 1149.30 crore o­n account of lockdown. Inspite of this, resulting to the cancellation of tickets till now, Western Railway has ensured to return refund amount ofRs 302.66 crore. It's worth mentioning that in this refund amount, Mumbai division alone, has ensured refund of Rs 142.76 crore. Till now, 46.36 lakh passengers have cancelled their tickets over entire Western Railway & have received their refund amount accordingly.

SHRAMIK SPECIAL TRAINS o­n WR

Western Rly has operated 1215SHRAMIK SPLtrains from 2.5.2020 to 2.6.2020, which have carried 18.25 lakh passengers to their desired destinations. Out of these 1215 trains, Mumbai division has handled highest 706 trains, Ahmedabad division 256, Vadodara division 99, Bhavnagar division 30, Rajkot division 117 and Ratlam division 6 Shramik trains. o­n 2^nd June, 2020, WR operated o­ne Shramik Special train from Indore in Madhya Pradesh to Barddhaman Jn in West Bengal.

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