The Hindu Business Line : Hindustan Copper’s Ghatsila rail network on a modernisation track

The present railway and handling facilities in the complex are causing huge detention of coal and petroleum rakes as well as wastage of concentrates.

Santanu Sanyal

Kolkata, July 17 Hindustan Copper Ltd (HCL) is to shortly take up the programme of modernising the rail network within its Ghatsila complex and has accordingly entrusted Rites Ltd with the preparation of the project report. The objective is to rationalise the rail transportation and logistics cost.

Right now, more than 5,000 tonnes of copper concentrates in containers and 1,100 kl of furnace oil and about 5,000 tonnes of coal are transported by rail every month into the Ghatsila cmplex.

The copper concentrates come from Malanjkhand area in Madhya Pradesh, which is more than 500 km away, coal from West Bokaro collieries of the Tatas – more than 200 km away, and petroleum products from Budge, about 300 km away.

Detention of Goods

However, the present railway and handling facilities in the complex leave much to be desired, causing huge detention of coal and petroleum rakes as well as wastage of concentrates.

So much so that the South-Eastern Railway (SER), at one point, even stopped allocating wagons to HCL, which therefore had to switch over to road transport of coal.

SER, it is learnt, has now promised to resume wagon placement for HCL, emphasising improvement in wagon utilisation and wagon handling at the plant level.

However, there is a problem in achieving significant improvement in wagon utilisation given the present level of facilities within the Ghatsila complex.

For example, for coal and petroleum products, HCL has only about half rake facility. For handling containers, the situation is even worse.

There are three lines of 210 metres each, one of which is used for locomotives. Hopefully, the Rites report will take into all these, among other things.

On the Modernisation track

For handling container trains carrying copper concentrates from Malanjkhand, HCL has already initiated steps which include modernisation of the existing track of 1920s vintage, embedding it with concrete, paving the space for handling containers. The space, estimated at 2,000 sq m, is now used for dumping concentrates.

On completion of the work around September/October to coincide with the recommissioning of the smelters, Sical Multimodal & Rail Transport Ltd (SMART), a subsidiary of Chennai-based Sical Logistics Ltd, will place fork-lifts, stackers and other handling equipment to facilitate handling of containers.

Once fully developed, the facilities at the container park, complete with modern container handling system, could be made available to other users also, it is felt.

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