The Hindu Business Line : Kirandul-Kottavalasa rail line not yet functional

Blockages
Rail movement suspended after Maoists blew-out transmission towers last Thursday.
Some of the damaged towers are not easily accessible, causing delay in repair.
Wagon-loading of coal at Talcher (Orissa) yet to become normal.

Kolkata June 4 The rail movement of iron ore on the 450-km long Kirandul-Kottavalasa line under the East Coast Railway (ECoR) is unlikely to be normal for another 10 to 15 days, according to ECoR sources.

The movement has remained suspended for the past few days due to power supply disruption caused by the blowing out of transmission towers last Thursday by the Maoists, plunging large areas in Chhattisgarh and Andhra Pradesh into darkness.

The damaged transmission towers were located in far-flung areas, some not easily accessible. Reinstalling them is proving to be very challenging. In many places, Chhattisgarh State Electricity Board workers, with armed escorts, are being required to carry material as head-loads, covering long distances on foot.

In a normal situation, 15 rakes of iron ore are transported every day on the Kirandul-Kottavalasaline — 10 rakes for exports through Visakhapatnam port and another five rakes to Visakhapatnam steel plant of Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Ltd.

For several days before the transmission towers were blown up, the daily average movement dropped to 11 rakes for whatever reasons — eight rakes for exports and three rakes for the steel plant.

Mr K. Ratna Kishore, Chairman of Visakhapatnam Port Trust, told Business Line that the present situation was being utilised by the port authorities to renovate and revamp the iron ore handling plant of the port.

Agitation called off

Meanwhile, the agitation by the local people in Talcher area in Orissa has been called off with the intervention of the district authorities, but the wagon loading of coal is yet to become normal, according to railway sources.

First, the production in Talcher mines, the sources feel, continue to be less than normal for various reasons. Also, the road movement of coal from the mines to the nearest railheads leaves much to be desired, with the result that coal stocks at the railheads have declined.

"The coal stocks at the railheads have dropped to less than a lakh tonnes, 25 per cent of which cannot be reclaimed," say railway sources.

Low rake-loading

ECoR is supposed to load 26-27 rakes of Talcher coal a day. At present, the average daily loading is barely 20 rakes. "We are now sending eight rakes a day to Paradip port for coastal shipment of coal to Ennore to meet the requirement of the Tamil Nadu Electricity Board, though we know the port would like to have at least 10 rakes," according to ECoR sources.

With rail movement of Talcher coal having started, said Mr K. Raghuramaiah, Chairman of Paradip Port Trust, the loading of ships for TNEB was now normal. No ships were waiting. "But there being no ground stock, we're virtually living from hand to mouth," Mr Raghuramaiah said.

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