On the occasion of India’s 76th Independence Day, the Indian Railways’ South East Central Railway (SECR) ran the Super Vasuki, touted to be India’s longest and heaviest freight train, with 295 loaded wagons.
- The freight train was operated on August 15, as part of the government’s Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav celebration. The train run by the South East Central Railway left Korba at 13:50 and took 11.20 hours to cover the distance of 267 km.
- The 3.5 km long train with 295 loaded wagons and powered by five locos carried a total trailing load of about 27,000 tonnes of coal was the highest fuel transportation ever carried by the Indian Railway in a single train arrangement.
- This is three times the capacity of existing railway rakes (90 cars with 100 tonnes in each) which carries about 9,000 tonnes of coal in one journey.
- The total amount of coal carried by this train is enough to fire 3000 MW of power plant for a full day which accounts for more than thrice the capacity of the existing railway that carries about 9,000 tonnes of coal in one journey.
