The Hindu Business Line : Wagons for SAIL: Railways on track

In 2003-04, SAIL needed 1,480 rail wagons a day to dispatch finished products out of its various plants. To move an additional 0.7 mt of finished products as projected for thisfiscal, the wagon requirement might rise by 76 wagons or so a day. This will be no problem as, for the first time, specialised BOST wagons fitted with air-brakes will be pressed into operation for transportation of finished products out of the plants.

MORE THAN 95 per cent of Steel Authority of India Limited's traffic, inbound and outbound together, is by rail and the public sector steel giant, if the experience of 2003-04 is any indication, should face no major problem in rail transportation of raw materials as well as finished products in 2004-05, assert Railway sources.

In 2003-04, SAIL's hot metal production was 12.7 million tonnes, projected to rise to 13.6 mt in 2004-05 and the saleable steel production to 11.4 mt (10.7 mt). In other words, the hot metal production is projected to increase by 0.9 mt and saleable steel production by 0.7 mt.

To support the projected increase in production, SAIL, it is estimated, will require an additional 560 wagons in terms of four-wheelers — about 480 for movement of the projected increased requirement of raw materials and another 80 or so to handle the projected increase in finished products.

In 2003-04, SAIL transported about 52.8 million tonnes of traffic, comprising 42 mt of raw materials and about 10.8 mt of finished products (0.1 mt was released for sale from the stocks).

To move 42 mt of raw materials, SAIL required 42 rakes of BOX-N wagons a day. That is the thumb rule. Assuming each rake comprises 145 wagons (four-wheelers) on an average, the total wagon requirement was thus more than 6,000 wagons a day.

This year, the raw material requirement is projected to rise by 3.3 mt — 1.9 mt of coal (including 1.8 mt of imported coking coal), 1.3 mt of iron ore and 0.1 mt of limestone and other minerals.

To move this additional 3.3 mt of raw materials, an additional 3.3 rakes of BOX-N wagons or additional 479 wagons will be needed every day.

Inquiries reveal that in 2003-04, SAIL needed 1,480 wagons (four-wheelers) a day to dispatch finished products out of its various plants.

To move an additional 0.7 mt of finished products as projected for this fiscal, the wagon requirement might rise by 76 wagons or so a day.

For the first time specialised BOST wagons fitted with air-brakes will be pressed into operation for transportation of finished products out of the plants.

There are several reasons why no major problem is foreseen in regard to wagon availability.

In May 2003, orders for 2,300 BOST wagons were placed with various wagon manufacturers and 1100 of them were delivered last month.

This year, there is a proposal to order for 1350 BOST wagons. BRN wagon is another type which is generally used for movement of finished steel. In May last year, orders were placed for 1787 BRN wagons, though only 330 were delivered till March. However, orders for another 1600 BRN wagons are being placed this fiscal.

While it will be a rash to claim that everything is hunky dory in regard to the availability of BOX-N wagons, which are primarily used for movement of raw materials, the steel being a priority area (second only power houses), the Railways tries its best to meet its wagon demand.

If SAIL was able to achieve great success in production and dispatches in 2003-04, it was also because the Railways took special effort to ensure wagon availability as far as possible, observe the Railway sources.

But it is also conceded that while the overall scene caused no concern, there might have been hiccups in day- to-day operations in various plants.

There are other reasons also. The uncertainty persists over the availability of imported coking coal. In 2003-04, SAIL imported about 7.2 mt of coking through three ports (Haldia 3.04 mt, Visakhapatnam 3.37 mt and Paradip 0.80 mt).

The import is projected to rise to 9 mt ( Haldia 4.1 mt, Visakhapatnam 4.00 mt and Paradip 0.9 mt) in 2004-05. If the projected imports do not materialise, the requirement of wagon will drop.

Fewer wagons will be needed not only for the transportation of raw materials (from the ports to the plants) but also for evacuation of the finished products as production too will be hit.

There has already been a cutback in production due to non-availability of coal.

Against the projected production of more than 11 lakh tonnes of hot metal per month, the SAIL plants, according to informed sources, are now producing at a little more than eight lakh tonnes.

This is because the coal availability is estimated at 5.5 lakh tonnes a month against the projected 7.5 lakh tonnes on an average.

What causes concern to the Railways is not so much the issue of making wagons available in sufficient numbers to public sector steel plants, but the detention of wagons at the plants.

Against the permitted detention time of a rake for 20 hours, the actual detention period ranges from a minimum of 36 hours to as high as 96 hours, varying from one plant to another.

The detention is mainly because of manual unloading of the raw materials.

In their desperate bid to cut down on the labour cost, the steel plants refrain from engaging sufficient number of workers to undertake the manual operation.

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