Explained | Why is Indian Railways cancelling mail, passenger trains?

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Amid the ongoing coal shortage and power crisis, the Indian Railways said on April 29 that it cancelled 657 mail and passenger trains to prioritise the movement of coal rakes. The 657 trains that were cancelled were made up of 500 mail and express trains and 148 commuter trains.

On May 1 as well around 42 passenger trains were cancelled to allow faster movement of coal carriages to restock power plants across India running low on the fuel against the backdrop of blackouts and outages in many states.

Although the railways said these cancellations constitute an “interim measure” and have occurred in non-priority and less busy routes, some passengers are likely to be stranded ahead of the upcoming summer holiday season.

But why has the railways cancelled mail and passenger trains?

The Indian Railways was forced to cancel these trains in order to meet the rising demand for coal from thermal power plants across India.

As on April 30, 83 of 150 power plants running on domestic coal had critically low coal levels and many of them cited lack of rakes as the key reason. Another 11 imported coal-based power plants also had alarmingly low levels of the fuel.

Furthermore, the Indian Railways had to increase the capacity to transport coal without disrupting the supply chain for other sectors.

In April, nearly 45 percent of all rakes available with Indian Railways were used for the supply of coal, a member of the Railway Board told Moneycontrol. He added that if rake allotment for coal was increased, it could lead to a shortage of cement and steel. Hence, Indian Railways had to cancel mail and passenger trains.

After the cancellations, the railways said it increased the daily loading of coal rakes to over 425 a day, carrying 1.62 million tonnes of coal, the highest allocation for the transportation of coal in the past five years.

Last week, the coal ministry requested the railways to run around 422 coal rakes daily to meet the power demand.

Railway Board officials also said the national transporter set aside 533 rakes a day for coal freight and daily coal rakes would be increased steadily in the coming few weeks.

Furthermore, trains carrying coal are also being prioritised over all other trains, including all passenger trains barring Rajdhani and Shatabdi expresses.

No more plans to cancel passenger trains

On May 2, the Indian Railways said coal supply is now reaching normal levels and it does not need any more special measures to increase the transportation of coal.

The railways is not planning to cancel any more passenger and mail trains from this time forward to transport coal, a senior official from the railway ministry said.

“We will look to restore the cancelled trains from May 8 in Northern Railways and from May 24 in South East Central Railway,” a government official said.

Initial estimates by Indian Railways suggest that by May 10, around 45 of the 80 thermal power plants that are operating at critically low coal levels will be provided with coal stocks for a week.

Coal India has also increased its supplies to thermal power stations. The company, which accounts for 80 percent of domestic coal output, said it recorded its highest April production ever and is likely to do the same in May.