Eleven days after the virtual flagging off of the first South Indian Kisan Rail from Anantapur in AP, the second one chugged off on Sunday morning from the southern state, laden with tomatoes and fruits to Nagpur and New Delhi.
“Second rake of Kisan Rail has started from Anantapur station in the early hours of Sunday to reach Adarsh Nagar in New Delhi,” said a South Central Railway (SCR) zone official.
Loaded with 262 tonnes of agricultural produce, the Kisan train is ferrying 239 tonnes of tomatoes and 23 tonnes of fruits such as papaya and others.
Expected to reach the national capital on Monday, the 12-parcel van train will unload three vans carrying 67 tonnes of tomatoes in Nagpur in Maharashtra, enroute to Delhi.
Nagpur is 882 km north of Anantapur while New Delhi is roughly 2,000 km north of the Rayalaseema town.
Kisan Rail is Indian Railways bit to fulfil Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision of doubling farmers’ income in India.
“An announcement was made in the Union Budget 2020 – 21 about the operation of Kisan trains and accordingly Kisan Rails were started,” he said.
These trains are enabling farmers to ship their produce to places where there are markets to buy their wares.