Rudrastra- Asia's longest freight train

Indian Railways has set a new milestone by successfully conducting a trial run of Asia's longest freight train 'Rudrastra'.

The train is 4.5 km long. The trial run was conducted from Ganjkhwaja railway station in Chandauli, Uttar Pradesh to Garhwa, Jharkhand, covering a distance of 209 km in 5 hours and 10 minutes at an average speed of 40.50 kmph. The freight trains will be sent from Deendayal Upadhyay Division (DDU) of East Central Railway to Dhanbad Division for faster loading and unloading, said Divisional Railway Manager (DRM) Uday Singh Meena. 'Rudrastra is India's longest freight train with a length of 4.5 km.

Rudrastra, the longest freight train in Asia, will speed up the movement and loading of goods. It will not only save resources but also time.  Uday Singh Meena also said that Rudrastra has been prepared by joining three long-distance racks (two goods trains each).

This train has a total of 345 wagons. An empty wagon can carry 72 tonnes of goods. Two engines are attached in front and one rack after every 59 bogies. A total of seven engines are used in it. In a way, a 'Rudrastra' is equivalent to five goods trains lined up one after the other.