The Hindu Business Line : Railways under strain over rake allocation in busy season

Tough time
There is a shortage of Box-N wagons, which are used for loading and transportation of iron ore and coal.
New sponge iron consumers have become strident in their demand for assured rakes.

Kolkata , Nov. 24

With the onset of "busy season," the demand on the Railways for allocation of more rakes for freight movement has started mounting. The Railways is having a tough time coping with it, particularly the increased demand for rakes from power houses, steel plants and sponge iron units.

The office of the Directorate of Rail Movement, which is directly under the Railway Board and which earlier concentrated mainly on the allocation of rakes for coal movement, is now being required to look after the rake requirement for iron ore movement.

The rake requirement for movement of iron ore is of two types, for exports and domestic movement, that is to meet the requirement of integrated steel plants as well as sponge iron units, which have sprung up all over eastern region in past few years. Inquiries reveal that there is an unfulfilled demand for rakes, both for iron ore and coal movement.

Rising demand

South Eastern Railway, the major transporter of iron ore for both domestic movement and exports, currently loads at the rate of about 44/45 rakes per day. There is demand for many more rakes. For several reasons, the South Eastern Railway finds it difficult to fulfil these additional demands.

First, there is a shortage of Box-N wagons, which are in great demand. Only Box-N type can be used for loading and transportation of iron ore and coal, which means that the wagons used for loading and transportation of foodgrains, cement and fertilisers cannot be used for transporting either coal or iron ore. More importantly, the coal rakes being virtually dedicated rakes, the scope of inter-changeability between coal and iron ore wagons is low.

Next, several new sponge iron consumers have been brought under the umbrella of programmed traffic (earlier known as CBT introduced during the pre-Independence period for assured supply of iron ore to select few, mostly integrated steel plants), with the result that these consumers have become even more strident in their demand for assured rakes, making the situation difficult for the Railways. The problem has been compounded by the fact that many sponge iron units do not have the basic rake handling facilities at their plants.

Some restrictions

Last year, the Railways had to clamp some restrictions on allocation of rakes for iron ore movement for exports, the idea being to make more rakes available for the domestic steel producers. No such restriction has been clamped yet.

But Haldia dock authorities are worried that the export of iron ore through the port has dropped and they have taken up the matter with the Railways. But then, as the Railways sources point, the drop in exports need not necessarily be due to the poor availability of rakes.

For Railways, reaching power-grade coal from the coalfields of West Bengal and Jharkhand to the power houses located in north India is important. It is estimated that there is an unfulfilled demand of more than 10 rakes a day for coal movement.

The shortage has been calculated by taking into account those power houses, which are located more than 1,500 km from the coal producing centres and holding a stock of less than seven days.