South East Central Railways (SECR), the largest freight-loading zonal Railway, has been experiencing a slump in coal throughput for some time due to flagging demand for coal.
As a result, SECR’s daily average loading has dropped to 5,500 wagons (eight-wheelers) from the normal 6,000, as coal accounts for more than 70 per cent of its total freight loading.
Disruption in supply
There has been some disruption in coal supply due to the monsoon. Heavy rainfall for the last few days has hit hard coal loading in Coal India Ltd’s mines in the Korba area and Ib Valley served by SECR.
However, poor demand for coal from State-owned power generating companies in Gujarat and Rajasthan is if greater concern.
The drop in demand for coal from Gujarat is believed to have been caused largely by the rise in the import of coal by private sector mega power plants in the State.
State-owned power generating companies buy power from these mega plants at a rate cheaper than the one at which they themselves would have otherwise produced.
For Rajasthan, there is an additional factor. Several State-owned power agencies have got coal mining leases in Madhya Pradesh, with mining contracts given to private firms. Coal from these mines are transported partly by road and rail.
The volume of coal transported by rail is so small, about one to 1.5 rakes a day, and is not enough to compensate the loss suffered .
Precisely for the same reason, private coal washeries in Korba and Bilaspur areas too have been suffering from poor capacity utilisation.
There are about half a dozen such washeries in the areas and their total coal throughput has dropped nearly 50 per cent to around seven to eight rakes a day.
santanu.sanyal@thehindu.co.in