Source: https://www.business-standard.com/article/indian-railways/railways-records-20-4-growth-in-its-coal-transportation-in-fy-2021-22-122042300852_1.html
Publisher: Business Standard
The Indian Railways has recorded a 20.4 per cent growth in its coal transportation in the 2021-22 financial year over the previous fiscal, the national transporter said on Saturday.
Compared to 542 million tonnes in the 2020-21 fiscal, the railways loaded a record 653 million tonnes of coal in 2021-22, an increase of 111 million tonnes.
Further, the loading of coal to the power sector was augmented by 32 per cent in just two quarters between September 2021 and March 2022, the railways said.
“In April 2022, the Indian Railway took many steps to prioritise loading of coal to the power sector which has led to an increase in the supply of coal of more than 10 per cent within one week,” a statement from the Railways said.
Some of the steps taken include prioritizing and monitoring the movement of trains loaded with coal.
“Movement of coal trains has been prioritised. Each and every train is being intensively monitored during the entire cycle from loading to movement and finally unloading,” the national transporter said.
With this prioritisation and monitoring, the transit time of trains loaded with coal has been reduced significantly by 12-36 per cent for critical power plants, it said.
The railways have also focused on the transition time of coal to power plants which are reflected in the fact that the average lead of coal trains has increased by 7 per cent in the last five days as compared to the average leads from April 1 to 10, it added.
