Title - Helped by rise in coal loading, East Coast Rail pulls more freight

A rise in coal loading has helped East Coast Railway (ECoR), a major freight-loading zonal railway, achieve higher traffic throughput, according to a spokesman for ECoR.Between April and July this year, ECoR loaded a total freight traffic of 42.46 million tonnes (mt), up by more than five mt over the same period last year, posting about 13.4 per cent growth. During the same period, the coal throughput increased 18.4 per cent to 25.31 mt (21.38 mt).The pro-rata total traffic target for the period was 42.34 mt and the improvement over the target was 0.3 per cent. Similarly, the pro-rata coal traffic target for the period was 24.28 mt and the improvement over target was 4.2 per cent.

IMPORTED COAL
The loading at Talcher mines of Mahanadi Coalfields Ltd was particularly good. In July alone, the average daily loading was almost 30 rakes, the highest ever monthly average. Cumulatively, till July, it was 27.6 rakes. The corresponding figure for the same period of last year was 22.5 rakes. The loading of imported coal through the ports of Paradip, Dhamra and Visakhapatnam too was good during the period.However, the picture so far in August does not appear to be too satisfactory. Heavy rains have taken a toll on loading, with average loading at Talcher mines having dropped to 25/26 rakes a day. Heavy rains have also hit coal loading at Paradip port which is virtually flooded.

There is no indent for coal rakes for Gangavaram port and the loading of imported coal at Dhamra has been badly hit by breakdown of equipment. For the past few days, the average loading at Dhamra has been around four to five rakes a day, or a drop of nearly 50 per cent.

The inclement weather has also affected iron ore movement along the 450-km long Kirandul-Kottavalasa line. The drop in production at NMDC’s mines in Chhattisgarh due to rains has brought down the daily movement of rakes along the K-K line to around eight. “Normally, we handle about 15/16 rakes a day”, the spokesman added.

The K-K line transports iron ore from mines in Chhattisgarh to Visakhapatnam, partly for exports and partly to meet domestic requirements.