Lockdown: Konkan Railways' 'Ro-Ro' service ensures speedy, efficient supply of essential commodities

Mangaluru: With the intent to contain the spread of COVID-19, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced a nationwide complete lockdown from March 25 and since then the whole country has come to a standstill, however, the Roll-on-Roll-off (Ro-Ro) service of the Konkan Railways came as a blessing to many transporters in the Coastal region.

In this testing period of the lockdown, the Ro-Ro service played a vital role to maintain the continuity of essential commodities supply chain.

Every alternate day one Ro-Ro service is running between Suratkal and Kolad station to ensure a non-stop supply of essential commodities to the coastal region.

All the employees who work under the Ro-Ro model make sure that they follow all medical precautions with respect to the Covid-19.

The Ro-Ro system was introduced by the Konkan Railway to ease goods traffic in western India. The railway offers to transport goods-laden lorries across long-distance routes. A train could carry 30 to 40 lorries and drop them at predetermined stations.

The system saves fuel costs for the lorry operators and spares the drivers the trouble of negotiating through congested cities and towns. Many cities have banned lorries within their core areas during the day to ease traffic on roads. The Ro-Ro system also saves transporters time.

The system also helps by reducing the number of vehicles on roads and bringing down the chances of road accidents.

The Konkan Railway started Ro-Ro in 1999 in stations at Suratkal, Madgaon, and Karad. These stations also have facilities to load and offload lorries.

Many of the lorries carrying goods from Kerala to north Indian destinations are loaded onto a train at Suratkal and driven off at Karad, ensuring a smooth journey for 600 kilometers.

It may be recalled that the Indian Railways have suspended all its passenger’s operations due to the lockdown.