Mangaluru: Southern Railway (SR) in collaboration with Konkan Railway Corporation on Wednesday conducted a trial run of 'Roll On Roll Off' (RoRo) service for trucks between Surathkal in Mangaluru, Karnataka and Kozhikode in Kerala.
Konkan Railway has introduced RoRo service between Kolad, off Mumbai and Verna, off Madgaon in Goa for the distance of 417 km on January 26, 1999 and extended it till Surathkal, off Mangaluru for 721 km since June 15, 2004. The RoRo service started with a single rake were later augmented with five rakes and at present daily services are operated based on demand.
RoRo service has been hailed as a win-win situation for the railways as well as truck operators. In addition to saving a considerable amount of fuel used by trucks, it also reduces road accident risks while contributing regular income to the Railways. As many as 50 trucks can be loaded at a time in this service. The BRN (Bogie Rail Carrying) wagons were modified to transport trucks.
The Southern Railways has sought extension of the Konkan Railway's existing RoRo service between Kolad, off Mumbai and Surathkal near Mangaluru, to the destinations in Kerala. So, a trial run was conducted to examine operational feasibility of the service wherein trucks ride on BRN wagons.
The trial run started from Surathkal at 8.20 am with a locomotive with three BRN wagons and a guard van with the first BRN wagon mounted with a metal structure equivalent to the height and width of a truck and two trucks in rest of wagons. Railway officials said the metal structure was to ensure train’s safe passage through tunnels as well beneath the electrified lines in SR’s jurisdiction.
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— Palakkad Railway Division (@propgt14) August 19, 2020@RailMinIndia @GMSRailway https://t.co/39zwwMUEJg
— Palakkad Railway Division (@propgt14) August 19, 2020
The train successfully passed through the Kulashekara tunnel as well as beneath the electrified lines without any obstructions in Southern Railway limits and reached Mangaluru Junction at 9.10 am. It left the Junction at 10.30 am towards Kozhikode after the crew change.
Palakkad Divisional Railway Manager Pratap Singh Shami said that objective of the initiative is to extend RoRO till Thiruvananthapuram but he expressed his apprehensions about the Road Over Bridge just before the Shoranur junction being a possible obstruction. If the attempt to pass through the road overbridge fails to materialize, they will run the RoRo til West Hill in Kozhikode, he said.
Konkan Railway authorities said that they would run RoRo as demanded by SR.
Read: Konkan Railway to operate special trains for Ganesh Chaturthi
