The Northeast Frontier Railway introduced freight operations from a station in Jalpaiguri district on Saturday in association with a private logistics company.
Senior railway officials, who flagged off a rake of 90 containers that carried soft drinks to Bihar, said the Mohitnagar halt station on the outskirts of Jalpaiguri town would henceforth be regularly used for goods movement.
According to railway sources, last June a consignment of cement made in a nearby factory was sent from the station, but it was a one-off development. Freight services started from Saturday in a regular manner.
“It is an important development for the district. There are many industrial units near Mohitnagar station. We have laid new tracks and have developed infrastructure at the station for freight movement. The units and people who bring fertilisers and other items can use this facility,” said S.K. Chaudhury, the divisional railway manager of the Katihar division of the NFR.
He said they were putting in efforts to encourage tea companies to send the brew to various areas of the country by rail. As of now, tea produced in north Bengal is sent across the country via road.
“If they send tea via rail, transport cost will reduce and the consignment will reach destinations safely,” the official added.
In recent years, railway authorities having been making efforts to increase freight operations in various railway zones.
According to NFR sources, there has been an increase of 8.78 per cent in freight movement in the first 10 months of the current fiscal, that is, from last April to January this year, compared to the corresponding period last fiscal.
“This January saw an increase of 3.6 per cent compared to January last year. We are transporting rice, sugar, salt, edible oil, food grain, fertiliser, cement, coal, vegetables, auto, tanks and containers,” said a source.
At Mohitnagar, private firm Western Carriers India Limited will run the facility. “We signed a pact with the railways for five years. We will send and bring in goods from here,” said Rajeev Srivastav, a regional manager of the company.