The Hindu Business Line : Tomca-Keonjhargarh rly line boost to iron ore movement

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Kolkata Feb. 20 The 99-km long railway line between Tomca and Keonjhargarh in Orissa has been commissioned giving a big boost to rail movement of iron ore from the Keonjhar region to Paradip port.

The domestic steel plants dotting in the Kalinganagar area of the State too are to benefit as a result. With this, the much-awaited 155-km-long Banspani-Daitari rail project gets completed, though in phases.

The trial run on the Keonjhargarh-Tomca section took place on February 15 and the full-fledged movement on the section is due to start shortly, it is learnt. The new route will be Banspani-Keonjhargarh -Tomca-Baghuapal-Sukinda Road - Jakhapura - Cuttack - Paradip. The distance from the iron ore rich Keonjhar area to Paradip will now become 324 km.

Which means, once commercial run starts on a regular basis on this route, the iron ore exporters will not be required to transport the ore from Keonjhar to Paradip via the present route through Tatanagar and Kharagpur covering a distance of 664 km. The distance thus gets reduced by more than half.

The rail transport cost too will be greatly reduced as a result, by more than Rs 300 per tonne, it is felt. "The f.o.b. price of the ore for exports should be cheaper by at least $6-7 per tonne," estimates a leading iron ore exporter who routes his shipments through Paradip. Also, the rail movement will now become much simpler and, therefore, easier than before.

Haridaspur-Paradip line

Once the 78-km-long Haridaspur-Paradip line, being constructed by Rail Vikas Nigam Ltd, gets commissioned, the distance from the Orissa's iron ore rich belt to Paradip will be further reduced and with it the rail freight, it is pointed out.

Yet the exporters prefer to keep their fingers crossed. The extent of actual drop in railway freight can be known only after the Railways has notified the new rates for the new route.

More important, it is still not clear if the Railways will be able to meet the increased demand for rakes. The apprehension is that availability of rakes will continue to fall short of the demand, more so because the railways do not accord priority to rake allotment for iron ore exports. The allotment for domestic movement gets the priority.