The Hindu Business Line : Concern over rail evacuation of coal from ECL mines

Road link problems
The problem has been compounded by the limitation in road-bridging, i.e. covering by road a distance of 40 km from the mines to Pir Painty, the nearest railhead available for transportation of the coal to non-NTPC consumers.

Kolkata , Aug. 25

The issue of rail evacuation of the large chunk of the three million tonnes of coal accumulated at Rajmahal mines under Eastern Coalfields Ltd (ECL) has become a matter of concern to the coal company, Eastern Railway (ER) and the National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC).

The stock is believed to have been built up as the major consumer of Rajmahal coal, namely, Kahalgaon and Farakka plants of NTPC, have cut down their offtake due to their preference for the imported variety. The Rajmahal mines are linked by merry-go-ground (MGR) railway systems to Kahalgaon and Farakka plants.

Problem compounded

The problem has been compounded by the limitation in road-bridging, i.e. covering by road a distance of 40 km from the mines to Pir Painty, the nearest railhead available for transportation of the coal to non-NTPC consumers. Not more than 3,500 tonnes of coal (equivalent of one rake) can be moved per day by way of road-bridging, i.e. by trucks from the mines to Pir Painty railhead, although the siding at Pir Painty can load more than one rake a day.

ER, therefore, would like to use the MGR facility linking the mines to the Kahalgaon plant for despatching coal to various consumers. However, a few issues have to be resolved before ER's plan succeeds.

First, NTPC would like to be suitably compensated for the use of its MGR system by ER. What will be the mode of compensation is still to be decided. Several options are being considered, it is learnt. Also, no major demand for Rajmahal coal has yet materialised from other consumers, such that the huge accumulation can be reduced to any significant extent.

CESC, the private sector power utility, it is learnt, has agreed to take only one rake on an experimental basis by using the mode proposed by ER, i.e. rail transportation of the coal right from the mines to its Budge Budge plant via the Kahalgaon MGR system. West Bengal Power Development Corporation too is understood to have indicated to take one rake a month for its Santaldih plant in view of the depleting stock position.

However, these consumers make it clear that, no matter what ER's arrangement with NTPC is, the landed cost must not be high enough to discourage them from using the coal.

ER is mulling using the Kahalgaon's MGR route to send some coal to north Indian powerhouses. The Dadri plant near Delhi is believed to be running short of coal and therefore wants ECL to step up dispatches. In 1993, the route was used to move coal to Ropar power plant, it is learnt.