Chhattisgarh: Railways create history, joins three freight trains with 177 loaded wagons

In a first, three freight trains were joined together in an 'Anaconda' formation carrying more than 15,000 tonnes loaded with 177 wagons. The crew team consisted of a loco pilot, an assistant pilot and a guard.

Raipur:The South East Central Railway (SECR) created history on Tuesday by amalgamating three freight trains as one unit. Taking a big leap in reducing the transit time, the three loaded trains (carrying more than 15,000 tonnes) ran successfully in an 'Anaconda' formation through Bilaspur and Chakradharpur division.

Taking it to Twitter, Ministry of Railways, said, "Taking a big leap in reducing the transit time of freight trains, Bilaspur division of SECR broke yet another frontier by joining & running 3 loaded trains (more than 15000 tonnes) in 'Anaconda' formation through Bilaspur & Chakradharpur divisions."

The Railways ran 177 loaded wagons with three freight trains clubbed together on a busy route with cargo value more than worth Rs one crore. The 'Anaconda formation' ran at a speed of 60 kmph in a record time of 2 hours and 15 minutes.

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The crew team consisted of a main loco pilot, an assistant pilot and a guard. The task was challenging as the officials kept an eye on any potential technical issue that might crop up.

"Generally it takes three loco pilots and three assistant loco pilots to run wagon loaded trains. But we managed to pull it off only with the help of three people," said an official.

He added, "Usually, it takes more than three hours to cover the distance as the route is busy. But now, the freight train was run at a higher speed utilising the availability of the path. We expect many such successful operations in the future."