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Reports have it that the Rs 1,800-crore Gangavaram port, built by a private consortium headed by D. S. Raju & Company, will be inaugurated some time in the current month. However, the East Coast Railway (ECoR) has started operations in the port. ECoR, which has constructed a 3.8-km-long railway line connecting the port’s railway exchange yard with its own trunk route network, began loading imported coal at Gangavaram from September 24. “We’re currentl y loading three rakes a day. Each rake contains 3,700 tonnes,” according to ECoR sources. There are now two railway lines for handling coal traffic in the port and the coal loaded is being transported to power plants located at Ramagundam (Andhra Pradesh) and Khaparkeda (Maharashtra). ECoR, as the sources point out, might be required to load more coal as National Thermal Power Corporation is mulling to transport coal imported through Gangavaram to its plants located in nearby Simadri as well as far off Rihand and Vindhyachal. Will the present railway network within the port be adequate to handle the projected increase in coal traffic, one might wonder. But ECoR has a ready solution: the line constructed for transporting iron ore for exports through the port, now lying idle, could be used for handling imported coal, if the situation so warrants. Meanwhile, the Railway Board Chairman, Mr K.C. Jena, visited Gangavaram port on Friday.

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