Indian Railways launches two long haul freight trains ‘Trishul’, ‘Garuda’ for South Central Railway

The Indian Railways has launched two long haul freight trains “Trishul” and “Garuda” for the South Central Railway (SCR) — which are twice or multiple times longer than the normal composition of freight trains. These long-haul trains provide a very effective solution to the problem of capacity constraints in critical sections.

What is a Long haul train? 

These trains are twice or multiple times longer than the normal composition of freight trains and provide a very effective solution to the problem of capacity constraints in critical sections.

Trishul is the first long haul train of South Central Railway (SCR) and consists of 177 wagons, or equal to three freight trains. It was launched from Kondapalli station of Vijayawada division to Khurda division of the East Coast Railway. SCR followed it up with the running of yet another similar train ‘Garuda’ from Raichur of Guntakal division to Manuguru of Secunderabad division.

Both the long-haul trains had empty open wagons to be used to load coal meant for predominantly thermal power stations.