A double-headed freight was waiting for our train - Barak Valley Exp. - to pull into Harangajao. Within five minutes, it departed towards Jatinga with a banker loco. A total of 4050 horses would have certainly help in tackling a ruling gradient of 1 in 37 from Harangajao to Jatinga.
Throughout the journey, I observed that the locos and caboose of all freight trains had a generous number of people. Looks like they routinely provide transportation for short-distance commuters, since the Barak Valley is the only daytime train in this section.