An inaugural refrigerated container rake, branded ‘Aushadhi Express’, was flagged off on 2 May 2026 from Inland Container Depot (ICD), Sanathnagar in Hyderabad, establishing a dedicated rail-based cold-chain link to Jawaharlal Nehru Port (JNPT), according to a statement by the Ministry of Railways.
The service was flagged off by Sanjay Kumar Srivastava, General Manager, South Central Railway, along with Sanjay Swarup, Chairman and Managing Director of Container Corporation of India Limited (CONCOR). Officials from South Central Railway, CONCOR, Maersk and logistics partners were present.
Operated by CONCOR, the rake is configured with refrigerated (reefer) containers fitted with diesel generator sets to maintain continuous temperature control in transit.
The service is targeted at time- and temperature-sensitive consignments, including pharmaceutical products.
The Hyderabad-JNPT corridor provides a direct evacuation route from one of India’s largest pharma clusters to a major gateway port.
Key manufacturing and R&D nodes in the region include Genome Valley, Jeedimetla, Patancheru and Mucherla.
Rail-based reefer movement is expected to compress transit timelines, reduce handling losses and bring down logistics costs versus road-only movement.
The service also improves schedule reliability for exporters by offering fixed departures and end-to-end temperature integrity.
Maersk is supporting the operation with reefer containers, strengthening ICD Sanathnagar’s cold-chain handling capability.
The deployment reflects rising demand for compliant cold-chain capacity driven by pharmaceutical exports and stricter quality requirements.
It is expected to improve realisations for exporters and reduce wastage across the supply chain.
The initiative aligns with the PM Gati Shakti framework aimed at improving multimodal freight efficiency and integrating production centres with ports through dedicated logistics solutions.
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