India’s National Horticultural Board (NHB) is looking to offer more capacity on the dedicated fresh produce rail service it introduced late last year.
A service connecting Nashik to Kolkata was recently introduced in addition to the original service that links Nashik and New Delhi.
Around 1,400 tonnes of onions were transported in 90 containers on the maiden voyage between Nashik and Kolkata, reported the Hindu Times. The containers are lined with food-grade thermal insulation to keep produce cool and dry and have three doors for loading cargo.
The service has proved popular with traders, the newspaper reported as transport times are faster than by road and produce incurs less damage.
The Director of National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India (Nafed) C Holkar added that the service was of benefit to small traders as it did not require they book more than 40 containers, as is a condition of other rail operators.
Farmers and small traders have used to service to send individual containers, the newspaper reported.
Buoyed by the positive reception the NHB is considering running services from Kolkata to destinations such as Chennai, Guwahati and Jorhat as well as one linking Agra and New Delhi.
Earlier in the year Naresh Jawa of Fresh & Healthy Enterprises, a major player in India's fresh produce trade, told Asiafruit Magazine there was also a need for refrigerated containers, which he believes the NHB will look to provide in future.
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