Indian Railways plans to operate 600 trains daily to transport 75 MT of coal in June

Apart from increasing the number of wagons meant for the transportation of coal, the Indian Railways is working closely with the Ministry of Power and Ministry of Coal to provide raw material to all important thermal power projects in the country.

"We have adopted a corridor-based approach, and the ‘coal corridor’ is the most important one,” the ministry official said.

Another senior official of the railway ministry said that Indian Railways currently uses close to 460 freight trains to transport coal across the country.

The national carrier has increased the number of freight trains used to transport coal by 70 trains since February and plans to add another 30 trains every month till June.

The Indian Railways is expected to take delivery of 50,000 wagons in 2023-24.

One freight train has around 50 wagons and can carry 4,000 tonnes of coal at one time, and with the increasing number of wagons, the railways plan to improve the number of rakes transporting coal.

The second official said that the railways has introduced a multiple wagon tipplers system to speed up the coal distribution network across the country.

“We have started technology trials of multiple wagon tipplers simultaneously in two thermal power plants. Three coal wagons are being tippled at one point in these trials. Once these trials are conducted, we will look to launch them to dramatically improve the supply chain of coal across the country,” the second official said.

Along with additional wagon tipplers, Indian Railways is also looking to have additional wagon unloading lines to de-load the coal wagons at the powerhouses.

Data from the power ministry showed that as on April 25, thermal power plants had coal stocks of at least 35.77 MT. In March, this number hovered around 30-33 MT.

There are 165 thermal power plants in India that operate on domestic coal.

Coal stocks at thermal power plants are at about 53 percent of the normative stock, which ideally should be about 67.6 MT.

Data from the coal ministry showed that coal despatches to power utilities increased by 4.36 percent to 68.36 MT during March this year, compared to 65.51 MT in March 2022. In February, the despatch to power utilities was 61.13 MT, up from 59.70 MT in February 2022.

"Logistics issues continue to persist even as a lot of it has been resolved compared to last year. There are some stocks that have piled up at the Paradip port and the concerned power generating unit is making arrangements to lift the coal. There are also constraints on the transportation front. Railways is trying to increase the number of wagons," another government official said, requesting anonymity.

In financial year 2017-18 (FY18), Indian Railways transported 555.20 MT to the power sector. In FY19, FY20, FY21, and FY22, it supplied 605.84 MT, 586.87 MT, 541.82 MT, and 652.80 MT respectively.

In FY23, the national transporter has set a target of commissioning 4,500 km of new lines, the majority of which is on coal-supplying routes. It is also investing around Rs 1 lakh crore in more than 100 projects.

Last year, India Railways ramped up coal transportation by putting in additional trains and rakes. During FY22, coal supply through the railways stood at a record 111 MT.

India’s peak power demand is expected to reach 230 GW in 2023, having already touched 211 GW in January, which was close to the all-time high of 216 GW in April 2022.

The power ministry recently directed all imported coal-based thermal plants to function at full capacity between 16 March and 15 June to meet the demand for electricity in the country.