The Mango Express that carries tons of fruits to north India every year, has failed to take off this time. However, traders say they are fetching a good price in the local markets, so this is not a big problem.
Railway sources said the urgency for coal movement led to cancellation of the mango express train services to New Delhi from Vizianagaram district this year. Mango orchards are spread over 25,000 hectares. It was more, some 35,000 hectares, in the undivided Vizianagaram -- the third-largest spread after Chittoor and Krishna districts.
The deputy director stated that since the rail facility for mangoes was not available, the fruits were sent in trucks to various destinations in the north, east and south. Nearly half of the harvested fruits were sent outside the state and the remaining was sold in the markets of Andhra Pradesh, Odisha and parts of Tamil Naidu, he said.
Source: deccanchronicle.com