Railways to procure 1 lakh wagons to supply coal to power plants

According to an official release, the availability of rakes for the power sector saw an upsurge in demand with an average of 472 rakes per day. However, in the current month, the loading of domestic coal for powerhouses has been on an average of only 409 rakes per day, added the release.

New Delhi:Indian Railways, struggling to meet the demand for wagons to transport coal to the power plants, said on Tuesday that the railway ministry has started procuring 1,00,000 new wagons to meet the future demand. According to an official release, the availability of rakes for the power sector saw an upsurge in demand with an average of 472 rakes per day. However, in the current month, the loading of domestic coal for powerhouses has been on an average of only 409 rakes per day, added the release.

In this background, both the coal companies and railways have envisaged jointly ensuring per day coal loading of 415 rakes of domestic coal and 30 rakes of imported coal to the power sector, said the statement. According to the release from the railway ministry, coal loading for powerhouses is constantly being ramped up as per the demand and the national transporter is fully committed to lifting all the domestic coal that is brought to sidings/good sheds by the coal companies and the imported coal brought to the ports by the power generating companies.

To meet the future demand, the national transporter has already started the procurement of more than 1,00,000 wagons which will improve the availability of the rakes. Citing bottlenecks in the transportation of coal to the power plants, the railways said that there has been an issue of frequent strikes in coal-bearing areas of Odisha which has impacted coal evacuation, especially in the Talcher area.

Against this backdrop, the railways have kept 60 surplus empty rakes at the pan-India level to maximize coal loading for the power sector. The national transporter has also taken various operational efficiency measures to expedite the evacuation of coal rakes. Towards this, coaching trains have been canceled across India to allow faster movement of coal rakes and easing out congested sections, said the release.

“Importance of seamless and timely movement of coal rakes to various power plants has been emphasized. Detention of coal rakes for each activity at loading/unloading points and en route movement is being monitored by divisional teams at the field level,” said a senior official.

Further, the running of long-haul trains and convoy rakes on congested routes have been augmented. Additional 100 rakes will be mobilized for coal loading in the current financial year which would further improve the rake availability for the power sector, the transporter said.

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