Indian Railways, for the first time, operated a special parcel train to Bangladesh carrying dry chillies from Reddipalem in Guntur district of Andhra Pradesh to Benapole.
Farmers and merchants of Guntur area have been traditionally transporting dry chillies to Bangladesh by road in small quantities and that was costing them around Rs 7000 per ton. However, during the lockdown period they could not move this commodity by road and approached Railways for help.
Accordingly, one Special Parcel Express train consisting of 16 Parcel Van moved to Benapole in Bangladesh.
Each Parcel Van was loaded with 466 dry chillies bags, weighing around 19.9 tonnes and the total weight carried by the train was around 384 tonnes. The cost per ton through the rain worked out to Rs 4,608 per ton.
