South Central Railway first amongst Indian Railways in track maintenance works: Gajanan Mallya

Hyderabad (Telangana) [India], September 23 : South Central Railway (SCR) stood first amongst Indian Railways in track maintenance works, SCR General Manager Gajanan Mallya said on Wednesday, adding that average speed of the freight trains has been enhanced from 24 kmph to 51 kmph.
He also highlighted various infrastructural developments such as commissioning of new lines, doubling and electrification while explaining about the maintenance activities of track and bridges on large scale by SCR to enhance safety and speed.
"The major achievements during the current financial year (April 2020 - August 2020) is that South Central Railway stood first amongst Indian Railways in track maintenance works," he told ANI.
Speaking on the freight initiatives and achievements of SCR, he gave details on the various freight incentive schemes, concessions available for freight customers for enhancing the loading.
He also explained the crucial role played by the Business Development Units as a one-stop solution for handling freight and parcel proposals from customers, which are set up at Zonal and Divisional headquarters.
Mallya said that the entire Railway network was functioning relentlessly to ensure the supply chain remains intact and also to balance the supply of essential commodities across the nation during the lockdown period.
"The active role played by the staff and officers are noteworthy. Towards their welfare, the zone has started treatment for the COVID patients at Central Hospital, Lallaguda, Secunderabad, Railway Hospitals at Guntakal and Vijayawada as per the ICMR guideline protocols. In addition, SCR is following the procedure of Testing, Tracing and treating to tackle the situation," he said.
"Accordingly, massive COVID test camps have been organized at Zonal and Divisional Headquarter offices in coordination with respective State Governments," he added.
Mallaya said that the zone commissioned a total of 89 kilometres of new lines, 41 kilometres of doubling and 44 kilometres of gauge conversion works.
"In the Telangana region, 43 kms of new lines and 30 kms of doubling has been commissioned. In Andhra Pradesh region, 46 kms of new lines and 11 kms of doubling are commissioned. In Maharashtra, 44 kms of gauge conversion has been commissioned," he said.
Mallaya said that the zone achieved third-highest parcel loading across Indian Railways.
"The zone has transported 2.8 crore litres of milk through 587 milk tankers. It also operated 158 parcel special trains and transported around 39,000 tonnes of various commodities," he said.
He informed that South India's First Kisan Rail Service between Anantapur and New Delhi on September 9, 2020, was run to provide transport facility for the agricultural produce of farmers.
The General Manager said that the loading of food grains has been doubled from 2 metric tonnes to 4.3 metric tonnes during the pandemic period.
"After a brief slowdown in the initial months of the current financial year, the loading in September 2020 has seen an upswing. Barring coal, loading in all other commodities including cement, food grains, fertilizers, POL, granite etc. recorded much higher in September 2020 as compared to September 2019. This has helped in total loading of September 2020 being more than the loading in September 2019, till date," he said.