- Operated on Daily basis to facilitate more transportation of milk
- one crore litres of milk transported just in 37 days
During the Covid-19 lock down period, South Central Railway started a unique initiative of operating “Doodh Duronto” i.e., Milk Special trains from 26th March, 2020 for balancing this essential commodity’s supply across the nation. The special has been operating from Renigunta in Andhra Pradesh to H. Nizamuddin since then. While initially the train was running on alternate days, keeping in view the increased demand for it, the frequency of the train was increased to run as a daily special from 15th July, 2020. Today i.e., on 17th December 2020, a major milestone was crossed wherein the Milk special has transported over 5 crore litres of milk till date.
Transportation of Milk by rail from Renigunta to New Delhi plays a vital role in balancing the Milk supply across the nation. Considering its importance, South Central Railway has been operating “Doodh Duronto” special on par with Mail express trains and the distance between Renigunta and H. Nizamuddin (2300 km) is being covered within a reasonable time of 30 hours.
It is relevant to mention that, the time taken for reaching 5 crore litres from 4 crore litres has been the shortest i.e., 37 days. In fact, from the time this Milk Special Train has been introduced, the number of days taken for reaching 1 crore litres has consistently been shorter than the previous one:
From Date To Date Milk Transported Number of Days
26th March 23rd June 1 crore 90 days
24th June 12th August 1 crore (total 2 crores) 50 days (140 days)
13th August 28th September 1 crore (total 3 crores) 47 days (187 days)
29th September 10th November 1 crore (total 4 crores) 43 days (230 days)
11th November 17th December 1 crore (total 5 crores) 37 days (267 days)
Doodh Duronto specials are run with normally 06 Milk tankers, each milk tanker having a capacity of 40,000 liters i.e., totaling to 2.40 lakh liters of milk in a train. So far, around 207 trips of Doodh Duronto special trains have been operated totaling to 1,256 milk tankers duly transporting 5 crore liters of milk.
Shri Gajanan Mallya, General Manger, SCR has appreciated the continuous efforts of the staff and Officers of Guntakal Division and Zonal Headquarters in the mobilization of milk to cater the needs of the Nation. He expressed his happiness with regards to the Zone crossing the transportation of 5 crore litres mark of milk and advised the officials to maintain the same momentum in future also.
