The Hindu Business Line : Hamstrung by rail infrastructure

The draft feasibility report prepared by Rites Ltd suggests several measures such as electrification of certain lines used for receiving raw material trains, construction of new lines, creation of train examination facilities, extension of short rakes lines to accommodate at least half rakes and necessary steps to avoid unnecessary shunting and transfer of loads from yards.

BOXED IN by inadequate facility to meet challenges.

Durgapur Steel Plant (DSP) has to do a lot of upgradation of rail infrastructure to achieve the projected increase in production, according to a draft feasibility report recently prepared by Rites Ltd.

Steel Authority of India Ltd (SAIL) is planning capacity expansion of DSP to achieve production of 3.2 million tonnes (mt) of hot metal equivalent of an estimated 3 mt of crude steel, 2.83 mt of saleable steel and 2.63 mt of finished steel by 2011-12. The present level of production is around 2.44 mt of hot metal equivalent of 2.28 mt of crude steel, 2.17 mt of saleable steel and 8 lakh tonnes of finished products.

It is estimated that by 2011-12, the coal requirement of DSP will increase to 2.8 mt annually from the present 2.2 mt and the iron ore requirement to 5.3 mt annually from the present 4 mt. As a result, the demand for coal rakes per day will rise to 3.72 from the present 3.62 and, with 30 per cent surge factor, to 4.83.Similarly the demand for BOXN rakes, used for transportation of iron ore into the plant, will increase to 4.79 per day from 3.61 per day and to 6.21 per day if 30 per cent surge factor is taken into account.

Other raw materials such as fluxes too will be transported in larger quantities. It is, therefore, estimated that the number of rakes to be needed per day for transportation of raw materials into the plant will rise to 10.10 from the present 8.3, further to 13.5 if 30 per cent surge factor is taken into account.

No clear roadmap

The Corporate Plan 2011-12 does not envisage any increase in the production of either Section Mill (200,000 tonnes) or Skelp Mill (220,000 tonnes). The production of the Wheel and Axle Plant will increase to 60,000 tonnes from the present 40,000 tonnes and of Merchant Mill by about 10,000 tonnes to 350,000 tonnes. However, according to the Corporate Plan, a new Bar and Rod Mill (1.4 mtpa) and a new Medium Structural Mill (400,000 tpa) are proposed to be commissioned by the terminal year of the Plan.

However, no indication is available either about the location of the new plants or other necessary coordinates, with the result that no infrastructure planning is possible at this stage, says the study. If it is assumed that the entire production of the two proposed mills will be transported by rail, as many as 91 additional wagons ( 330 days' working in a year and 60 tonnes loading per wagon) will be needed every day to despatch the output of the two mills.

Which means, the number of BOX wagons to be required per day will rise to more than 140 from the around 50 now. Rites is of the view that the present infrastructure is inadequate to "face this enormous challenge".

Since there will be no increase in the production of Section Mill and Skelp Mill, there will be no additional demand for wagons in respect of these mills. The bulk of the production of the Skelp Mill is transported by road, leaving the existing rail capacity idle. The available capacity in the Section Mill too is substantially more than what is required. The projected increased production in Merchant Mill will push up the demand for box wagon by only one a day, from the present 17 to 18; similarly the projected increased production of the Wheel & Axle plant will boost the wagon demand marginally.

Yet the study suggests several measures such as electrification of certain lines used for receiving raw material trains so that these could be admitted directly into the plant, construction of new lines, creation of train examination facilities, extension of short rakes lines to accommodate at least half rakes and necessary steps to avoid unnecessary shunting and transfer of loads from yards.

Supply problems

The Rites study notes that while the Indian Railways has undergone many changes over the years — mode traction has changed from steam to diesel to electric, four-wheeler wagons to eight-wheeler wagons, ordinary BOX wagons being replaced by BOX Ns and the like — but there has been no corresponding change in the railway facilities within DSP especially in terms of accommodating longer trains. As a result, there is a mismatch, causing detention of wagons entailing huge demurrage. According to one estimate, the average detention of wagons used for evacuation of products out of the plant, inclusive of loaded wagons for backloading, is unusually high — 46 hours for BOX wagons, 50 hours for BOST and 64 hours for BOX N types.

The Railways recently increased the minimum weight condition of BOX N to CC+8 which means the gross weight is now 91 tons, likely to rise to 100/120 tonne as and when higher 25/30-tonne axle load is introduced.

The Railways is also redesigning existing BOX N for 22.9 tonne axle load with same length but increased height. Any future planning on rail infrastructure of the plant, therefore, must take into account all this.

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