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In a showpiece of logistics muscle, Indian Railways on Friday rolled out Rudrastra — a record-breaking freight formation stretching roughly 4.5 kilometres, made up of 354 wagons and hauled by seven locomotives. The experimental run, carried out by the Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyay (DDU) division of the East Central Railway, marks the longest freight train ever run on the country’s conventional network and is being billed as a step-change in bulk transport capability.
The run and the route
Rudrastra’s trial journey was conducted in the DDU division — reports indicate the formation was assembled and run on a stretch that included stations such as Ganjkhwaja and Garhwa Road, covering several hundred kilometres as part of the exercise to test operational, braking and signaling behaviour for ultra-long goods rakes. The railway division described the operation as a successful demonstration of coordination between motive power, braking systems and ground staff.
What makes Rudrastra different
Longer trains are not just headline fodder — they are an efficiency lever. By combining multiple rakes into a single, longer formation, each Rudrastra-style movement can carry far more tonnage per crew and per locomotive-hour than many shorter trains.
Rudrastra’s 354 wagons and seven-locomotive consist aim to test whether Indian tracks, signaling blocks, loops and crew protocols can reliably and safely handle such concentrated loads on regular routes (as opposed to isolated test tracks). The scale — 4.5 km — significantly exceeds previous Indian long-haul experiments such as the 3.5 km “Super Vasuki” runs.
Technical and operational challenges
Running a freight beast of this length is a systems exercise:
Tractive effort & distributed power: Multiple locomotives spaced across the rake reduce coupler forces and help manage starting, climbing and braking. Rudrastra used seven engines to spread tractive and braking loads.
Braking coordination: Air-brake propagation time across kilometres of wagons, dynamic braking coordination and fail-safe measures must be validated in real conditions. The trial was intended to check brake pipe propagation, emergency braking response and loco interlocks.
Signalling & loops: Lineside loops, crossing stations and signaling blocks designed for ordinary-length freights must be assessed for the safe passage or staging of ultra-long rakes. Infrastructure constraints — platform and loop lengths, gradient profiles and turnouts — determine where such trains can be scheduled without disrupting passenger services.
Why this matters — economics and environment
If regularized, ultra-long trains offer several concrete benefits:
Higher throughput: Moving more freight in fewer train paths frees up network capacity. Each Rudrastra run can displace multiple shorter services, lowering congestion and slot competition.
Lower unit costs: Crew, locomotive and energy costs per tonne-km fall as train length and payload increase — a direct economic win for bulk sectors like coal, cement, steel and ores.
Emissions efficiency: Consolidated long hauls can reduce fuel consumption and emissions per tonne moved, an important consideration as the railways electrify more routes and aim to improve carbon intensity.
Where Rudrastra fits in India’s long-train story
Rudrastra is the latest in a series of Indian Railways experiments with very long freight formations. Over the past few years, zones have trialed progressively longer rakes — for example, “Super Vasuki” (reported at about 3.5 km and nearly 295 wagons) — as the railways search for the optimal balance between train length, safe operations and network throughput. Rudrastra’s 4.5 km run pushes that boundary further and will inform future decisions on corridor upgrades, loop extensions and scheduling practices.
[Newsroom staff written original, where key claims or facts from multiple news sources (like TOI, Swarajya, The Indian Express etc.) transparently.]
