The Indian Railways on Thursday launched the Roll-on Roll-off (RoRo) service to ferry petrol and diesel to Tripura which is reeling under fuel shortage due to the bad shape of the Assam-Agartala national highway.
Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL) and Northeastern Frontier Railway (NFR) jointly inaugurated the service at Bhanga in Assam on Thursday. A special train with flat-bedded type wagons fitted with Tank Trucks was flagged off at Bhanga on its way to Churaibari in north Tripura. From Churaibari the trucks would be offloaded for surface transportation to their destination.
“We have not tried this unique logistic management anywhere before now”, IOCL Chief Corporate Communication Manager Aloke Kumar Singh said. IOCL has arranged a programme at Churaibari station on Friday morning to receive the tank trucks.
The RoRo service was initiated in compliance with assurance of Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu when he flagged off the Agartala-New Delhi direct train service on July 31. “I can help out the state from its acute petrol crisis with support of railways”, he said in his speech.
The NFR in a press release asserted that the RoRo was necessary as a portion of the highway on the Assam border is damaged and normal transportation of commodities to Tripura is taking a longer time.
