Kisan Rail: All you need to know!

Kisan Rail: The Union Budget 2020-21 proposes setting up of Kisan Rail to build a national cold supply chain for perishables including meat, milk and fish. The Kisan rail will be set up by the Indian Railways through the PPP arrangement.

The Kisan Rail will comprise refrigerated coaches in Express and Freight trains. The budget also proposed the launch of Krishi Udan by Civil Aviation Ministry on international and national routes to transport perishable goods to less accessible areas such as the north-east and tribal districts.

The Indian Railways has already taken the following initiatives towards the development of a cold chain for the transportation of perishable goods:

Refrigerated Parcel Vans: The Railways has developed a new design of refrigerated parcel vans with the carrying capacity of 17 tonnes for the transportation of highly perishable parcel traffic. It was procured through Rail Coach Factory Kapurthala. The Indian Railways currently has a fleet of nine such refrigerated vans and they can be booked on a round-trip basis. The charge of the vans is 1.5 times the charge of a normal freight train.

Reefer (Ventilated Insulated) Rail Containers: The Indian Railways has procured 98 Ventilated Insulated Containers for the transport of fruits and vegetables across the country. The containers have a carrying capacity of 12 Tonnes per container.

Cold Storage Facilities for Perishables: Under a pilot project, temperature-controlled perishable cargo centres have been set up at select areas including Ghazipur Ghat (UP), New Azadpur (Adarsh Nagar, Delhi) and Raja ka Talab (UP) under Kisan Vision Project, as a by the Container Corporation of India under CSR initiative. Another such project is under construction at Lasalgaon, Nasik in Maharashtra and in Dadri. Besides, the Central Railside Warehousing Corporation has been granted approval to develop similar temperature-controlled storages at Fatuha and Mancheswar.

Background

The Union Budget 2020-21 reiterated the central government’s commitment towards doubling farmers’ income by 2022. The budget highlighted that farmers’ prosperity can be ensured by making farming competitive. To enable the same, the budget proposed to build a seamless supply of cold supply chain for perishable goods.