For the first time, Bananas loading has commenced from Tadipatri station of Guntakal Division in Reefer Container rake. A total of 43 reefer containers were loaded from the nearby cold storage units and warehouses for transporting by rail from Tadipatri to Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT), Mumbai.
Anantapur and Kadapa districts are well known for horticultural farming. Especially areas in and around Pulivendula, Tadipatri and surrounding areas are famous for cultivation of good quality Bananas, and are internationally renowned and are exported to Middle East countries. Normally, transportation of Bananas by road takes longer duration and en-route loss will be on the higher side. To mitigate this problem and to assist the farmers for hassle free transport facility South Central Railway in coordination and Container Corporation of India (CONCOR) have come with the solution of reefer containers transportation.
Transportation of the bananas through refrigerator containers provides a hassle-free, safer and faster transportation facility for the freight customers. Further, it drastically reduces Enroute damage and the quality of the product will be maintained till it reaches its destination. In addition, the same containers can be shipped further for exporting to other countries.
For handling this traffic at Tadipatri, CONCOR have set up full-fledged facilities like Reach Stacker for container handling, reefer plug points, Genset mounted trailers, Diesel Generator sets etc. Further, each train carries 2 power packs for providing uninterrupted power supply to the reefer containers while in transit.
Accordingly, first reefer container rake consisting of 43 refrigerator containers were loaded with around 977 Tonnes of bananas and despatched from Tadipatri on 22nd January, 2021 to JNPT, Mumbai for exporting to Middle East countries. Enthused by the facilities provided by the Railways, the freight customers have evinced further interest to add-on to the new initiative. The CONCOR and the Business Development Unit (BDU) set up at Guntakal Division have played a vital role and conducted extensive meetings with the local merchants, traders and cargo operators for capturing this traffic.
Shri Gajanan Mallya, General Manager, South Central Railway appreciated the efforts of the CONCOR and the Guntakal Division’s BDU team in capturing new stream of traffic. He also appealed to all the traders, merchants and rail users to utilize reefer container facility for transporting their perishable consignments by Rail. on this occasion, General Manager instructed Railway officials and BDU teams to extend all the possible help to the customers offering loading by Rail
