Super Vasuki: Indian Railways’ 3.5-km-long train with six locos and 295 wagons pass by

Source: The post is based on the article “Super Vasuki: Indian Railways’ 3.5-km-long train with six locos and 295 wagons pass by” published in Economic Times on 17th August 2022.

What is the News?

On August 15, the Indian Railways conducted a test run of its latest train called Super Vasuki.

What is Super Vasuki?

The Super Vasuki freight train is 3.5 km long. This is the longest and heaviest freight train that the Railways have ever operated.

Named After: The train gets its name from Vasuki, the Hindu god of serpents. Shiva’s snake, Vasuki, is portrayed as being around his neck. The snake is said to have a gem on his head called a Nagamani.

The train was run by the South East Central Railway(SECR).

Features: The train was formed by amalgamating five rakes of goods trains as one unit. The train takes about four minutes to cross a station.

– The amount of coal carried by Super Vasuki is enough to fire 3,000 MW of power plants for one full day.

– This is three times the capacity of existing railway rakes (90 cars with 100 tonnes in each) that carry about 9,000 tonnes of coal in one journey.