Indian Railways Launches Asia’s Longest Freight Train ‘Rudrastra’, Stretching 4.5 km
9 Aug 2025 3:54 PM IST9 Aug 2025 3:54 PM IST
According to the reports, the zonal railways said that “ Rudastra reflects better working capacity, coordination between departments and good management of the DDU division.”
India longest freight train: Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyay Division operated 4.5 km long "Rudrastra" (Image/Ministry of Railways)
Indian Railways launched its first-ever longest freight train, “Rudrastra”, stretching nearly 4.5 kilomètres, on August 7, 2025.
The train has been built by joining six standard-length rakes, with 354 wagons and seven engines, making it Asia’s longest freight train. In its trials, it ran from Ganjkhwaja in the DDU division to the Dhanbad division, covering 200 KM at an average speed of 40 KM/hr.
Ashwini Vaishnav, Union Minister of Railways, shared a video of the train on X, with a caption that said, “Rudrastra- Bharat’s longest Freight train (4.5 KM long)."
According to the reports, the zonal railways said that “ Rudastra reflects better working capacity, coordination between departments and good management of the DDU division.”
“This will increase both the speed and capacity of freight transportation. If these goods trains were run separately, then six different routes and crews would have to be arranged for all of them. Running together as Rudstra will save time significantly and will also provide space for running more trains,” they added.
The article has been authored by Akshara Ramachandran, an intern at Deccan Chronicle.
( Source : Deccan Chronicle )
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