Kobra: The South-East Central Railways (SECR) Zone in Chhattisgarh once again hogged the media limelight on Monday evening by successfully operating the longest freight train by amalgamating four rakes of coal-laden trains as one unit of around 2.8 kilometres.
SECR dubbed this special freight train as 'Super Shesh-Naag' comprising 232 wagons powered by four locomotives with 12 crew members, which dispatched 16,000 tonnes of coal from Korba to Nagpur in one go to ease the ongoing coal shortage in thermal power plants.
Earlier in January 2021, the SECR had operated the longest-ever freight train by amalgamating five rakes of good trains – comprising 300 wagons – as solo long haul rakes of around 3.5 kilometres, which is a record so far. Due to the excessive length of 'Super Shesh-Naag', it has been reported that there is a problem in passing trains on a single track. Due to this, the Chhattisgarh Express was stopped at the outer for some time.
Commuters from Chhattisgarh have found themselves in a distressing situation following a recent month-long cancellation of over 32 passenger trains on different dates by the Railway Board apparently to make way for the movement of coal freight to alleviate the power crisis in several states. Korba happens to be India’s biggest coal and power-producing district and alone produces 16.56 percent of the country’s coal.
Also read: White paper on coal shortage points out Centre's policy error behind the present crisis
