Passenger trains cancelled to rush in coal rakes

Indian Railways has stepped up efforts to ensure coal supplies, with power demand soaring this summer, cancelling passenger services so tracks are freed up for goods trains carrying the fuel to generation sites.

Also affected are coal supplies to non-power sectors such as aluminium and steel, among others.

The Railways has cancelled 13 pairs of express and 8 pairs of passenger trains. In all, 753 trips stand cancelled across South East Central Railway and Northern Railway zones.


"Cancellation of trains is an interim measure for seven to 10 days across different zones. This is being done to ensure priority routes for coal wagons and faster turnaround," a rail ministry spokesperson said. "Train cancellations have been done in non-priority sectors and less busy routes."



The Railways says wagon availability for coal has increased as power demand hit a record 207 GW on Friday.

Non-Power Coal Consumers
"In 2020-21, 271 rakes per day were deployed for coal loading. This number rose to 347 per day in 2021-22, and is now over 400 per day in the current month," a senior rail ministry official told ET, calling for better infrastructure at power plants to unload coal faster so wagon turnaround time is reduced.

Priority coal for power plants has strained rail rake availability for non-power sector consumers. The metals industry is facing a shortage of rakes at a time when steel demand and prices are also heightened, industry sources told ET.

"The first priority of the Railways right now is to supply coal to power plants. This approach has its pitfalls, such as lowered supplies to non-power consumers," another rail ministry official said.

Mahanadi Coalfields (MCL) has written to Indian Railways, seeking 94.4 rakes per day for power plants. This demand is to be met by trains running on the East Coast Railway, South East Central Railway and South Eastern Railways zones.

"Total rake availability across these zones is less than 100 rakes per day. This demand raised by MCL hardly leaves any rakes available for non-power consumers," an aluminium industry representative said.

The Railways allocates rakes according to directives issued by Coal India Ltd and its subsidiaries.

Steel & Aluminium
In a letter to steel minister Ramchandra Prasad Singh last week, the Indian Steel Association said its members are having to tackle a supply squeeze.

"The steel industry is also facing a shortage of BOXN rakes for movement of imported coking coal from ports to steel plants," the letter said, referring to the Paradip and Dhamra ports. "Despite holding stock at ports, the industry is unable to dispatch the same to plants and production is also suffering on this account as well."

An Aluminium Association of India spokesperson said the coal crisis can be managed more efficiently.

"Rather than supplying priority rakes to all independent power plants (IPPs) - especially long-distance coastal-based plants - the coal supplies must be streamlined to feed the short-distance, highly efficient captive power plants of power-intensive industries set up near the mine pitheads," the person said. "Currently, our members are sourcing a large chunk of power from the (power) exchange, which also includes power produced by IPPs situated far away from coal mines and, hence, have a high turnaround time for coal rakes."