The Hindu Business Line : ‘We can overcome the present crisis and achieve our target’

Mr A. K. Goyal , a 1973 batch officer of the Indian Railways Traffic Service, took over as the General Manager of East Coast Railway (ECoR) in December 2007. In an interview to Business Line recently at his office in Bhubaneswar, Mr Goyal discussed various challenges facing the zonal railway he heads and his resolve to meet them squarely.

Excerpts from the interview:

Which are the issues currently engaging your attention most?

The general slowdown of the economy, that is affecting traffic throughput. Till mid-October, traffic growth was fine. Not any more. In November our average daily loading of wagons has dropped by nearly 300 vis-À-vis the same period last year. This is the busy season and normally, at this time of year, we suffer from wagon shortage. This year we have a wagon surplus.

What is the extent of surplus?

An estimated 10 jumbo rakes, five Box N rakes and another five to six iron rakes, earmarked for movement on the Kirandul-Kottavalasa (K-K) line, have been stabled.

Which items of your traffic are worst hit?

Iron ore for exports and, to some extent, finished steel goods. Iron ore traffic for exports has virtually vanished and the recent announcement of freight concessions for iron ore movement for exports will not benefit us. Also, there has been a dip in throughput of finished steel items.

If the current trend is any indication, Vizag steel plant, accounting for more 70 per cent of our loading of steel goods, may not load more than 45 rakes this month, against the targeted 70 rakes. Last November, VSP loaded 74 rakes. Despite this, I’m sure we’ll be able to overcome the present crisis and achieve the target.

What is your traffic target for the current fiscal?

The Railway Board has set a target of about 101 million tonnes (mt) for ECoR for 2008-09. Internally, we have set for ourselves a higher target of 103 mt.

Last year, we handled 93 mt. Up to October this year (April to October) we handled 55.07 mt, up by 6.58 per cent over the 51.67 mt handled in the same period last year.

Your coal traffic has remained intact, hasn’t it?

Yes, by and large. Till October, we handled 29.12 mt of coal, up from 27.70 in the same period of last year. Coal accounts for an estimated 54 per cent of our total traffic. Last year we handled a little less than 50 mt of coal, targeted to exceed 53 mt this year.

However, there has been some drop in coking coal import by steel plants and to that extent we are hit. But I’m not worried because the drop in coking coal import has been compensated by the rise in the import of power-grade coal by power plants. Besides, the volume of coking coal we handle is small, about 10 per cent of our total traffic.

What makes you optimistic about coal traffic?

The growth prospects of the power sector. Electricity demand is rising, and will keep rising, as our economy grows. After all, there is so much unfulfilled demand in the power sector.

The transportation of coal for the power sector will continue to be critical, not only for our zonal railway but for the Indian Railways as a whole.

But the Talcher mines under Mahanadi Coalfields Limited, your major coal loading areas, have often been hit by a not-so-satisfactory performance ….

Mahanadi Coalfields Limited, I understand, has already finalised new agreements with road transport operators and, with this, hopefully, the road transportation of coal from the mines to nearest railheads will become regular.

Aren’t you tapping new items for boosting traffic throughput?

We’ve introduced several new schemes and various concessions to attract more cement and foodgrains traffic, particularly from private firms.

What about freight movement along the K-K line?

The line is used for transporting iron ore from National Mineral Development Corporation’s mines in Chattisgarh and adjacent areas to Visakhapatnam, partly for exports and party for domestic consumption. In the best of situations, we can operate 14/15 rakes a day. But not any more, given the crisis in the steel industry.

We are now running eight to nine rakes a day. But transportation on the K-K line is difficult due to other reasons. First, the line passes through difficult terrain, undulating topography, which is challenging operationally. More important, the spurt in Maoist activity often brings movement to a halt.

What about new projects?

We have several new projects in hand and these include construction of new lines as well as doubling of the existing network.

Among new lines are Daitari-Banspani (155 kms), Lanjigarh Road- Junagarh (56 kms), Khurda-Bolangir (290 kms), Haridaspur-Paradip (82 kms), Sukinda Road-Angul (98.76 kms) and Talcher-Sambalpur( 174.12 kms).

Some of these lines, when ready for operation, will be used mainly for freight movement such as Haridaspur-Paradip line, Sukinda Road-Angul and Talcher-Sambalpur.

Again, some of these projects are being implemented by Rail Vikas Nigam Ltd through the formation of special purpose vehicles with the participation of various stakeholders.

Some of these projects, both new constructions and doubling, will be ready for operation within a year or two.