In a first, Indian Railways transports chocolates in AC coaches

With a new idea for the first time, South Western Railway, Hubballi Division on Friday utilised idle AC coaches to transport chocolates and other food products, which require low and controlled temperature during the transit.

Hubbali (Karnataka): In an innovative idea for the first time, South Western Railway, Hubballi Division on Friday utilised idle AC coaches to transport chocolates and other food products, which require low and controlled temperature during the transit.

On October 8, chocolates and noodles weighing 163 tonnes were loaded in 18 air-conditioned coaches from Vasco Da Gama in Goa to Okhla in Delhi. This was the consignment of AVG Logistics. This AC Parcel Express train will cover a distance of 2115 Km and is expected to reach Delhi on Saturday, as per the release by the South Western Railway.

This has fetched a revenue of Rs 12.83 Lakhs to the railways. With the marketing efforts of the Business Development Unit (BDU) of the Hubballi Division, this new stream of traffic has been captured by the railways which was traditionally transported by Road.

Congratulating the efforts of BDU, Hubballi Divisional Railway Manager, Arvind Malkhede said that the Railway is proactively reaching out to customers to utilise Rail Services which are faster, smoother and cost-effective services.

This approach is being appreciated by Industries and Merchants thereby increase in volumes. The monthly parcel earning of Hubballi Division is crossing Rs 1 Crore mark since October 2020. The Parcel earnings of Hubballi Division during September 2021 is Rs 1.58 Crores. The cumulative parcel earning of the Division during the current Financial Year up to September 2021 is Rs 11.17 crores, read the release.

ANI