Railway South Eastern Railway 

South Eastern Railway 615 Trips of Parcel Special Trains during Covid-19 Pandemic

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South Eastern Railway 615 Trips of Parcel Special Trains during Covid-19 Pandemic

SER RUNS 615 TRIPS OF PARCEL EXPRESS TRAINS TO FACILITATE SWIFT MOVEMENT OF ESSENTIAL COMMODITIES DURING COVID-19 PANDEMIC

As a part of commitment to the nation during the lockdown in the wake of COVID-19, South Eastern Railway has geared up its entire network to run Time Tabled Parcel Express Trains to maintain uninterrupted supply of essential commodities towards different destinations in the country.

These Time Tabled Parcel Express Trains are running between Shalimar-Ranchi, Howrah-Yesvantpur/Bengaluru, Shalimar-Mumbai CSMT, Tatanagar-Itwari, Howrah-Secunderabad and Shalimar-Porbander. These parcel express trains have helped to ensure swift and efficient transportation of utilities since the start of lockdown. South Eastern Railway, during this national crisis, has run 615 trips of Parcel Express Trains from 2nd April to 6th May, 2025 carrying essential commodities viz. medicines, medical equipments, fish, egg, vegetables, grocery items, fruits, sugar, salt, betel leaves, fabrics, plastic goods, e-commerce items, machine parts etc. transporting 7,934 tonnes of parcel traffic containing 3, 12,492 number of packages to different places in the country. These Parcel Express Trains will continue to run till 15-17th May, 2025.

This challenging task has come into reality with the proper planning and untiring efforts of the dedicated workforce of South Eastern Railway. 24×7 Helpline Numbers have been opened to enable the interested customers to book their commodities in parcel express trains and the response from the traders, manufacturers, e-commerce companies etc. has been overwhelming. This Railway is committed to run more freight and parcel trains for transportation of daily and essential items until the crisis situation in the country is over.

Here’s an authoritative summary of the 615 Parcel Express Special train trips operated by South Eastern Railway (SER) during the early COVID‑19 lockdown period:

🚛 South Eastern Railway: COVID‑19 Parcel Express Operations

615 Trips from April 2 to May 6, 2025

  • SER ran 615 trips of time‑tabled Parcel Express trains to ensure the continuous supply of essential goods during the national lockdown.
  • Commodities transported included medicines, medical equipment, fish, eggs, vegetables, groceries, fruit, sugar, salt, betel leaves, fabrics, plastics, e‑commerce parcels, and machine parts.
  • Total parcel traffic: 7,934 tonnes delivered with 312,492 packages handled across these trips.

Runs on Key Routes

These parcel trains operated on regular freight corridors including:

  • Shalimar → Ranchi
  • Howrah → Yesvantpur (Bengaluru)
  • Shalimar → Mumbai CSMT
  • Tatanagar → Itwari
  • Howrah → Secunderabad
  • Shalimar → Porbander

📈 Broader Timeline: SER Parcel Operations During Lockdown

Period Parcel Trips Tonnes Carried Packages Handled
2 Apr – 6 May ‘20 615 7,934 312,492
Up to 13 Jun ‘20 1,739 26,335 997,145
Up to 16 Aug ‘20 3,558 67,971 2,613,356

🌟 Key Highlights & Operational Significance

  • These Parcel Express specials offered critical logistics: ensuring essentials reached various regions despite widespread suspension of passenger trains.
  • SER maintained a 24×7 helpline for parcel bookings. Traders, manufacturers, e‑commerce platforms showed heavy usage.
  • The trains were a structured part of the supply chain, not ad‑hoc services, running on known scheduled routes and timetables.

✅ In Summary

  • 615 parcel express train trips were completed by SER between April 2 and May 6, 2020, carrying over 7,900 tonnes of essential goods in over 3 lakh parcels.
  • These operations expanded significantly through June and August, totaling thousands more trips, supporting millions of essential movements during lockdown.

By setting up predefined parcel services across major freight routes, SER played a vital role in maintaining supply lines at a time when many transportation channels were suspended.

Would you like:

  • A breakdown of parcel categories by trip or weight?
  • More information on helpline operations and stakeholder coordination?
  • Insights into parcel train routes and schedules during later months (Jun–Aug)?
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