By Sabyasachi Sharma

 

Guwahati:  Indian Railway in a leap forward, has connected Northeast to West Coast (Mumbai/Gujarat), by commencing operations of running a PCET (Parcel Cargo Express Train) for transportation of Agricultural produce of Northeast (Pine-apple, Ginger, Turmeric, Tea, Cane, Wax) and industrial finished goods from New Guwahati Yard (NGC), Guwahati to Kalyan (Maharastra).  The PCET will run between New Guwahati Yard/Guwahati/Assam to Kalyan/Maharastra, initially twice in a month.

The maiden run is scheduled on 17.05.2018 ex-NGC (New Guwahati Yard) to Kalyan (Maharastra).

PCET is a unique arrangement where even very small quantity of goods can be easily booked to destinations. The train runs on a definite path, is accorded top most operational; priority and rates are cheaper than other modes. The salient features of the leased PCET are Cost effective; cheaper logistics costs as compared to roadways, Door to door facility available, Movement of 450 tonnes of material at one time, Insulated coaching wagons, Certified to run at a speed of 110 Kms/hrs, No cost escalation for three years, Assured supply of Wagon/Rakes, Flexibility of increasing the number of Rakes per month, PCET to run on a scheduled path and a time-table,

Single window operations.

The Express Parcel Train will go a long way to meet the demands of Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura, Manipur, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Mizoram ensuring supplies of Medicines, Continuous Process Plants (CPP) raw material, essential supplies, Army CSD consignments, infra-structure inputs to name a few of the products being loaded from the West Coast for Northeast.  On its return journey, at a cheaper rate, as per the Ministry of Railways policy, will transport the produce of seven sisters, giving a boost to the Agricultural community and the nascent Agro/Petro based industries of Northeast.

Chief  Public Relation officer of N.F. Railway Pranav Jyoti Sarma informed that operations for transportation have been simplified and made single window by leasing out the Parcel space while Railways monitoring the gamut of operations to reach the material just-in-time.

It is to be mentioned that N.F. Railway had run PCET to Patel Nagar in Delhi which was the very 1st such train on Indian Railways. Such a train would be a boon for small scale local producers of NE region whose products could easily access the markets of other parts of India.