Coal India is relying on the new rail corridors to make up for the short supplies of coal. Company’s coal production is already hampered due to heavy rains in regions like Orrisa, Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra and Jharkhand.
The mining giant expects that the production goes on full swing from October with the new rail lines aiding to increase the lagged coal supplies and make up for the deficit towards the end of this fiscal year.
As per official sources, the new railway line of 44 Km in Chhattisgarh under 136 Km East rail corridors from Kharsia to Korichopar will be operational from this month. It would enable the coal evacuation from Mand-Raigarh and Korba coal fields of SECL which is largest coal producer subsidiary of CIL.
East rail Corridor is developed by Chhattisgarh East railway, formed as a special purpose vehicle between SECL, Government of Chhattisgarh and IRCON with a budget of INR 3055 Crores. SECL holds majority of the stake accounting to 64% in the partnership and rest of the stake lies between Chhattisgarh Government and IRCON.
SECL already has started loading of two rakes of coal per day from Bijari, Baroud and Jampali mine of Mand-Raigarh, which would be gradually increased to 5-6 rakes per day, pushing up the coal supplies to the thermal power stations of Maharashtra and Gujarat.
The commissioning of Kharsia-Korichpar line of Mand-Raigarh coal fields of SECL would further enhance the production and supply of coal.
CIL has revised its production target from 660 MnT to 625 MnT for FY20.
The new line started under SECL for coal evacuation joins the list of rail projects which have been added recently, including Jharsugda-Sardega under MCL in Odisha and Tori-Shivpuri under CCL in Jharkhand. Altogether, the three subsidiaries have a huge coal reserves and the underlying rail projects would help in raising coal production to achieve the desired goal set by CIL.
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