South Central Railway has netted haulage business for edible oil on the Kakinada-Haldia route.
Generally transported by tanker trucks, crude degummed soybean oil was transported to a refinery unit based at Haldia for further processing from Kakinada.
A rake of 49 BTPN tank wagons with 2,700 tons of oil was dispatched today from the Kakinada New Goods Complex siding of Vijayawada division, according to a statement from South Central Railway.
Transportation of the same quantity of oil by road would require more than 120 truck trips. It is unclear if this is a one-off dispatch or recurring business for Indian Railways.
Degummed soya crude is extracted from soybeans and refined further to produce edible soybean oil.
Business Development Units, set up to gain market share from road transport, are expected to reach out to various potential customers and help them make the transition to rail transport. This has resulted in more interest in switching to rail.