Kolkata, Feb. 13 The East Coast Railway (ECoR), a major freight-loading zonal railway, is struggling to achieve the targeted freight traffic of 94 million tonnes (mt) set for 2007-08. In 2006-07, ECoR handled 83.92 mt.

Till January, the throughput showed a growth of 11.6 per cent to 76.14 mt. Which means, to achieve the targeted traffic, ECoR has to handle an additional around 18 mt in February and March. “It is not impossible, though a little difficult, to achieve,” according a spokesman for ECoR.

Difficult because, as it is pointed out, the freight movement on the 450-km long Kirandul-Kottavalasa line, used for transporting iron ore from Bailadila mines to Visakhapatnam, has been hit several times during the current year mainly due to the Maoist problem.

Now also there are restrictions on movement of rakes on the K-K line in view of derailment and the Maoist threat, with the result only six to seven rakes are now being moved per day as against the normal 14/15.

In normal situation, the annual throughput of the K-K line can be as high as 15/16 mt. The throughput this year, it is feared, will be much less.

“We’ve been forced to withdraw rakes from the K-K line and deploy them on other circuits though such an exercise is unlikely to compensate fully the shortfall in traffic,” the spokesman observed.

Another factor which has been of concern is the not-so-satisfactory loading of imported coal at Visakhapatnam port. In February, ECoR is supposed to load 3.55 rakes of imported coal a day on SAIL account but the average daily loading so far has been 2.36 rakes per day, or a drop of about 33 per cent. The target for the month has been set at 103 rakes total but only 26 rakes have been loaded so far.

The factors believed to be responsible for this include problems at the loading ports in Australia entailing lower arrivals of coal than earlier estimated and the inclement weather in Visakhapatnam port. The coking coal import by Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Ltd for Visakhapatnam Steel Plant too has been less than estimated, it is pointed.

On other hand, it is indicated, the loading of coal at Talcher mines of the Mahanadi Coalfield Ltd has significantly improved to around 30 rakes a day. Also, the release of rakes by Paradip Port Trust has been “excellent”.

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