The Hindu Business Line : Limited cargo keeps increased rake capacity underutilised at Paradip

THE completion of work on the doubling of the 82-km long railway track between Cuttack and Paradip has substantially increased the line capacity on the route so that as many as 30 rakes a day can now be moved each way every day as compared to 15 till recently. However, Paradip port continues to receive 15 rakes a day. Where is the cargo for 30 rakes?

The additional traffic for Paradip port, it is felt, should materialise mainly by way of larger movement of BOBR (bottom open bottom release) rakes carrying thermal coal from Talcher mines to the port for shipment to Ennore by the coastal route.

This is because the port is geared to handle as many as 20 BOBR rakes a day as the mechanised coal handling plant set up at a huge investment (with assistance from ADB) has the capacity of 20 million tonnes annually. The port now receives only eight rakes of BOBR wagons every day.

To enable Paradip port to handle 20 BOBR rakes a day, Tamil Nadu Electricity Board has to step up its offtake.

In the current quarter, the offtake is six lakh tonnes a month and inquiries reveal that the linkage for the next quarter is unlikely to be substantially higher. At this level of offtake, handling 20 rakes of BOBR wagons a day is a remote possibility.

The other important question is: Can Talcher mines under Mahanadi Coalfields Ltd be able to supply increased volumes of coal even if TNEB decides to step up its offtake? Probably not, if the present situation is any indication.

There is another point. It is not enough to move more rakes with cargo into Paradip port; equally important is the issue of back-loading of rakes (i.e. transportation of loaded rakes from the port to the hinterland).

Which means imports too have to be substantial to warrant back-loading of the rakes that arrive at the port.

Right now, the volume of imports at Paradip is just enough for back-loading of seven rakes a day on an average even as 15 rakes arrive at the port every day.

Which means in the present situation, more than 50 per cent of the wagons that arrive at the port cannot be used for back-loading.

The Railway sources point out that the BOBR rakes being dedicated rakes move in the closed-circuit and, therefore, it is presumed that these rakes, after unloading cargo, will go back as empties.

But the prospect of back-loading of BOBR rakes at Paradip has brightened with the rise in the volume of imported thermal coal traffic for transportation to the Kanhia plant of the National Thermal Power Corporation.

The Kanhia plant is located close to the Talcher mines which generate cargo for coastal shipment.

Which means the BOBR rakes, despite operating in closed-circuit, have traffic for both directions though the volume of traffic for back-loading is much smaller.

The back-loading of rakes, both BOBR and non-BOBR types, at Paradip port, therefore, can increase provided two things happen: first, NTPC imports more thermal coal through the port; and second, mismatch between the arrivals of non-BOBR wagons and their back-loading is avoided through a judicious cargo-mix. PPT, it is learnt, is working in that direction.

It should be possible to achieve a proper cargo-mix with so many units coming up in the State, it is felt.