Railways starts RoRo svc in Tripura to carry petro products

PTI

After successfully launching the Roll on Roll off service over the Ganga river, railways has started it in Tripura to transport petroleum products in the state.

In order to help Tripura, reeling under a fuel crisis owing to deplorable condition of the road connecting the land-locked state with rest of the country, railways undertook RoRo service of POL (petroleum, oil and lubricants) to carry loaded trucks on flat-wagon goods train to the state.

The RoRo service was launched in May to carry loaded trucks on goods train in a bid to attract more loadings and reduce carbon emission, said a senior Railway Ministry official.

It was first launched across the Digha rail bridge between Bihta and Turki stations in Bihar as loaded trucks were moved on the flat rakes to avoid congestion on roads across Ganges.

The service is being introduced from Bihta to Turki station in Muzaffarpur district covering a distance of 88 km.

In the northeast, tanker trucks were loaded from Bhanga in Assam to reach Churaibari in Tripura 44 km away.

Since, the road connecting Tripura with Assam is in very poor shape creating serious bottleneck in transportation of commodities including fuel into Tripura which had resulted in serious fuel crisis in Tripura.

The RoRo scheme will help the loaded trucks to piggyback on goods train bypassing the damaged national highway near Churaibari, the official said.

The road condition in remote areas often gets affected during inclement weather in Northeast and RoRo will prove to be a novel means to help continue supply lines in times of crisis.

RoRo service is designed to provide connectivity to loaded road vehicles where road connectivity is poor or does not exist.