'Water Express' arrives in drought-struck Latur after 18 hour journey

A special train carrying ten wagons of water, each with a capacity of around 50,000 litres, reached Latur at 5 a.m

A special train carrying around five lakh litres of water to a parched Latur in Marathwada region, which is battling the worst drought ever, reached its destination after an 18 hour journey, this morning.

The 'water train' with 10 wagons carrying water for Latur had left from Miraj in western Maharashtra at around 11 a.m yesterday and reached Latur at 5 a.m today, taking 18 hours to traverse the distance of around 350 kilometres.

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"The first batch of ten wagons, each with a capacity of around 50,000 litres, were filled with water at Miraj railway station in Sangli district," said Chief spokesperson of Central Railway Narendra Patil.

The district administration has acquired a huge well located near Latur railway station to store the water which will then be supplied to Latur town.

On April 8, the train had left from Kota workshop for Miraj in Pune division.

The second train consisting of 50 wagons is expected to be ready for water loading around April 15, a Railway official said earlier.

"As per instructions from the Ministry of Railways, Kota workshop received two goods trains consisting of 50 tank wagons each for deployment in drought-affected areas of Latur during the summer season and the trips of the trains will be arranged as per the requirement," he said.

The carrying capacity of these wagons is 54,000 litres of waters per wagon.