To mark the beginning of Amrit Kaal, Indian Railways ran Super Vasuki, five loaded train long haul on 15th Aug 2022 as a part of Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav Celebration. The effort came from South East Central Railway, which ran the massive 3.5-km-long train with 295 wagons carrying 27,000 tonnes.
Super Vasuki carried coal from Korba in Chhattisgarh to Rajnandgao in Nagpur on August 15, as part of the Independence Day celebrations. The train left Korba at 13:50 and took 11.20 hours to cover the distance of 267 km. Five goods trains were combined into one rake to create the train.
The freight train gets its name from Vasuki, the Hindu god of serpents. Shiva’s snake, Vasuki, is portrayed as being around his neck. The snake is said to have a gem on his head called a Nagamani.
The national transporter claimed that this is the longest and heaviest freight train that the Railways has ever operated, and that it crosses a station in around four minutes.
In order to avoid fuel shortages for power plants, the Railways intends to adopt longer freight trains more frequently, particularly to transport coal during the period of high demand.
Earlier in 2022, a significant power crisis had been caused by a lack of coal throughout the nation. Bhupesh Baghel, the chief minister of Chhattisgarh, wrote to the federal government on Saturday, pleading with it to instruct South Eastern Coalfields Limited (SECL) to guarantee a continuous supply of coal to the state’s steel producers.
“Over 15 crore tonnes of coal are extracted annually in Chhattisgarh, which ranks second in the country in terms of its production. But a large quantity of produced coal is supplied to other states. Chhattisgarh is also one of the leading states in the field of steel production. Apart from many large steel-manufacturing units, there are hundreds of small units as well and lakhs of people depend on these facilities for their livelihood,” Baghel said.
