To implement the budget announcement 2020-21, a Committee was constituted on Kisan Rail and Krishi Udan. The Committee constituted a sub-committee for detailed deliberation and preparation of concept note under convenership of Executive Director, Railway Board.
Ministry of Railways after due deliberation with Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare has started operating Kisan Special Trains for transportation of perishable horticulture / agriculture products, dairy, fisheries etc. These trains are multi-commodity, multi-consignor/consignee services, running in a time-tabled manner with stoppages at all major stations.
The first Kisan Rail was flagged off from Devlali (Maharashtra) to Danapur (Bihar) by Shri Narendra Singh Tomar, Hon’ble Minister of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare and Shri Piyush Goyal, then Hon’ble Minister of Railways, Commerce & Industry on 7th August 2020, for transportation of perishable agriculture/horticulture products, dairy, fisheries etc.
The 100th service of Kisan Rail was flagged off by Hon’ble Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi for the route from Sangola (Maharashtra) to Shalimar (West Bengal) on 28th December 2020.
Currently, a total of 2359 trips of Kisan Rail trains have been operated on 167 routes, wherein nearly 7.9 lakh tones of consignments have been transported.
The routes for Kisan Rail are decided on demand received from farmers and other stakeholders. Whenever a demand for Kisan Rail for a particular route is received, arrangements are made by the concerned Zonal Railway for supply for rakes and operation of Kisan Rail train, duly considering the operational feasibility of the proposed route.
This information was given by the Union Minister of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Shri Narendra Singh Tomar in a written reply in Lok Sabha today.