Record 250 freight trains rush coal to power plants in November

20 November 2017

Amid a scramble for coal, the railways and Coal India Ltd have jointly set a record by mobilising and loading 250 freight trains in November to rush fuel to power stations.

The mobilisation of such a large number of rakes and their loading at such a scale scale has been achieved in spite of sporadic rains in some of the coalfields, a government statement said on Wednesday.

About 223 rakes, or 89% of the 250 rakes, were loaded exclusively for coal-fired power stations. The Railways and Coal India are jointly working on a strategy to raise the loading target to 266 coal rakes per day on the back of in crease in coal production.

Coal India clocked a production growth of 8.3% in the second quarter of the current fiscal, while supplies to power stations rose 13.6% and rate of daily loading of rakes grew by 7% during this period.

The growth in coal despatch to power stations in August, September and October stood at 20%, 21% and 18%, respectively, as compared to the same periods in the previous fiscal. This helped coal-fired plants to meet the spurt in demand of festive and paddy seasons at a time when generation from hydro, nuclear and imported coal-based plants had dropped.

CIL is poised to contribute a load of 300 rakes through the Railways, including about 35 rakes for coal beneficiation and coal lifted through road for loading from goods shed sidings of the Railways.

Source: TOI