The Vijayawada division of South Coast Railway (SCoR) loaded the first rake of wood pulp on Saturday (September 19, 2026). The first pulp load was carried from Kakinada Port to Bhigwan in Maharashtra.

Imported wood pulp has been transported by road from Kakinada to paper industries in Maharashtra for the last 15 years. Identifying the potentiality for shifting this traffic to rail, SCoR in association with industry representatives studied the actual loading requirements and the tariff structure.

To improve the freight revenue, the railway officials held discussions with the industry experts and submitted a proposal to the Railway Board in July 2026 for suitable rating of wood pulp, and based on the proposal, pulp has now been included as a commodity in the goods tariff under Class-110, paving way for considerable reduction in the freight charges for the new commodity, said SCoR Chief Public Relations Officer (CPRO) Y. Balaji Kiran in a release.

As a result of this tariff rationalisation, the 1,061-km long-lead traffic has been successfully diverted from road to rail, and the first rake carrying imported wood pulp was loaded at Kakinada Port to Bhigwan in Maharashtra.

The freight earning from each rake is about ₹40 lakh.

“SCoR expects to generate around 1.5 lakh tonnes of additional loading per annum, with an estimated annual freight revenue of approximately ₹20 crore from this traffic,” Mr. Balaji Kiran said.

SCoR General Manager, Sandeep Mathur congratulated Principal Chief Operations Manager Vineet Kumar, Principal Chief Commercial Manager K Sambasiva Rao, Vijayawada Divisional Railway Manager Mohit Sonakiya and other officers for their achievement.