The Hindu Business Line : Rail wagon detention at SAIL plants

In a move to streamline rail movements to and from steel plants, a RITES study will look into an area of specific concern — the detention of coal-carrying wagons within the steel plants.

REPORTS have it that the issue of logistics and infrastructure development in its various steel plants has come up for a review at the top-level of the Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL), so much so that the public sector steel giant has entrusted Rail India Technical and Economic Services (RITES) with the job of undertaking a study on the subject for Bhilai steel plant.

The Bhilai plant, whose capacity has been stepped up from the original one million tonnes to five million tonnes, is certainly an important outfit for SAIL. However, the Chairman of SAIL is believed to be in favour of similar studies undertaken for other plants such as Durgapur, Bokaro and Rourkela.

Whether RITES will also be entrusted with the job for the these three plants is not known but what appears to be certain is that the focus of the proposed studies will be on the railway movement and its various aspects. Perhaps rightly so. After all, the Railways accounts for nearly 98 per cent of the SAIL plants' movement of raw materials as well as evacuation of finished products.

While there can be several issues that are crucial in rail movement to and from steel plants, the one that causes a good deal of concern is the detention of wagons within the plants. There are instances where the wagons have been detained for 10 days against the stipulated 10 hours.

A recent study of the wagon detention in various SAIL plants can be revealing. The period of detention can vary from one plant to another, from one type of wagon to another and also from one product to another.

Let us take the case of Bhilai steel plant. In May this year, the average detention of a BoxN wagon bringing in coking coal into the plant was 12.5 hours; for boiler coal, also in BoxN wagons, the average detention period was more than 47 hours.

For iron ore, brought in a BOBS wagon, the average detention period was more than nine hours and for flux, also brought in the same BOBS wagon, it was more than 10 hours. Interestingly, the detention period in respect of the same flux, when brought in a BoxN wagon, jumped to more than 30 hours.

The outward dispatches (of finished products) present a worse scenario. For example, in respect of Box / BOST wagons, the detention was more than 105 hours, in case of BoxN, it was more than 81 hours and for BRN more than 100 hours. Overall, for Box/BOST wagon, the average detention period was more than 106 hours, for BoxN more than 22 hours, for BOBS more than 13 hours and for BRN more than 96 hours.

The situation is slightly better in other SAIL plants. Thus, in the same month, the average overall detention of Box/BOST wagon in Durgapur steel plant was 63 hours, for BoxN 35 hours, for BOBS 25 hours for NBOY 51 hours and for BRN 60 hours.

The corresponding figures for Rourkela were: BOX/BOST 75 hours, BoxN 28 hours, BOBS nine hours and BRN 109 hours and for Bokaro Box/BOST 143.3 hours, BoxN 27 hours and BRN 74.9 hours.

Two things are clear form the figures. First, the detention is more in case of outward dispatches and second, the detention is more in respect of certain types of wagons. The reason for this is simple. The same wagons which bring raw materials like ore and coal into the plants could not always be used for evacuation of finished products out of the plants.

The finished products often require specialised wagons which may be in short supply. In one go the railways could not always supply in required numbers the kind of wagons the plants would require for the purpose of dispatches. A steel plant in need of a given number of wagons for the formation of a full rake, therefore, may experience the problem of detention till the required number of wagons is available.

There can be problems at the level of steel plants also. Except Bokaro, all the three other steel plans were commissioned in the 1950s. The systems in these plants have not been updated to the required extent in tune with the growth of traffic over the years. True, there has been upgradation of various facilities in the plants from time to time but the old practices, such as the manual participation in certain operations, could not always be dispensed with entirely.

The manual operation often causes delays and, therefore, wagon detention.

In many cases, the loading facilities are available for piece-meal dispatches and not for full-rake loading, which is needed today.

The shunting engines are not always available in adequate numbers and those available are either with derated capacity or not properly maintained.

Then there is the old exchange yard concept, under which the steel plant locos take over the wagons from the Indian Railway locos at the exchange yard and in the process of this transfer several precious hours are lost.

The operation of a steel plant being very complex, the problem of wagon detention may not be eliminated entirely; it can at best be reduced.

However, any significant reduction in the detention of wagons calls for proper synchronisation of a number of operations both within and outside the plants.

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