To meet the water crisis in the country, Indian Railways has once again risen to the occasion and decided to transport water in the drought affected areas in the country. Minister of Railways Shri Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu has directed the Railway administration to make necessary arrangements in this regard.
On a request from Maharashtra Government and Central Railway Zone, Railway Ministry has arranged two goods trains (rakes) consisting of 50 tanker like wagons each (BTPN Wagons) for the purpose of loading and transporting water in the drought-affected areas of Latur district in Maharashtra. Kota workshop of Indian Railways has been directed to undertake steam cleaning of wagons for the purpose of loading drinking water. The two goods trains will be deployed in Pandharpur-Latur section of Solapur division (275 KM) for loading water. The first goods train (rake) consisting of 50 BTPN wagons will be ready for water loading after steam cleaning from Kota workshop on 8th April, 2016. The Second goods train (rake) consisting of 50 wagons after steam-cleaning, is expected to be ready for water loading around 15th April, 2016. These 2 rakes will be deployed in Latur during the summer season of the financial year 2016-17. The trips of the goods trains will be arranged as per the requirement .
Earlier, on a demand from Rajasthan Government and North Western Railway Zone (NWR) many goods trains were deployed to transport water from Nasirabad to Bhilwada in Ajmer Division (109 KM) from January 2016 onwards which will continue up to the summer season.
The carrying capacity of water is around 55,000 litres/wagon which means around 2750000 litres/rake.