26/05/2016

 

Railway bridges freight gap between north, south Bihar, launches RO-RO

 

Patna,(BiharTimes): In a bid to reduce pressure on Mahatma Gandhi Setu, which faces perennial congestion and jam because of the repair works, the railway on Wednesday launched a service that would facilitate transporters to send their loaded, or even empty, trucks from Patna to any part of north Bihar, or even Nepal, by goods train.

In this regard railway minister Suresh Prabhu, inaugurated the Roll-on Roll-off (RO-RO) service, through remote from New Delhi at a function held at Bihta freight terminal under Danapur division of East Central Railway (ECR).

ECR GM A K Mittal and Danapur DRM R K Jha were present on the occasion.

The service will be introduced from Bihta to Turki station in Muzaffarpur district covering a distance of 88km through the Digha-Sonepur rail-cum-road bridge.

Approximately 44 loaded or empty trucks can be moved in a rake and one rake will do three trips a day.

Prabhu said that the service would be extended to cover more commodities and destinations in future. He stressed that in the long run, this initiative would save a lot of foreign exchange spent on fuel and indirectly help reduce pollution.
After Konkan Railway, which started the RO-RO service for the first time in 1999, ECR is the second railway to provide the same.

The freight charge for carrying a loaded truck up to 15 tonnes between Bihta and Turki terminals has been fixed at Rs 4,000 and for an empty truck Rs 2,650. However, a sum of Rs 200 will be charged for every extra tonne of freight.

It needs to be mentioned that Kolkata serves as the transit port for Nepal and most of the trucks carrying goods pass through the Mahatma Gandhi Setu to reach the Himalayan republic through Raxaul.

According to an estimate over 85,000 vehicles pass through the 5.575km-long Gandhi Setu daily. The Rajendra Bridge between Mokama and Barauni too is not in the best condtion.

 


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