84 railway projects worth Rs 990 billion on cards to boost coal traffic

With an increasing share in the freight cargo, Indian Railways has lined up 84 projects that would cost the government Rs 989.8 billion to boost coal traffic. The Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) will monitor 14 of these projects so that these can be completed between 2020 and 2022.

“The projects will cover 9,259 km. Fifteen of these are line extensions of 2,178 km,” said a government official. Projects of about 6,445 km would involve doubling, tripling, and adding a fourth line on some routes; gauge conversion would be done on 636 km.

Of the 14 projects that the PMO will be monitoring, four are being implemented through special purpose vehicles (SPVs). State governments also have considerable stakes in these.

Once the coal projects are completed, the railways expects freight movement of 2 billion tonnes in three to five years. At present, the railway carries 555 million tonnes (mt) of coal. It would increase to 800-1,000 mt once the projects are completed.

In the April-July period, the railway freight traffic was 397.54 mt, compared 375.53 mt during the same period in 2017-18.

The major projects implemented under the SPV include a 47-km stretch at Shivpur-Kathautia (Jharkhand), 136 km from Kharsia to Korichhapar (Chhattisgarh), 122 km from Gevra Road to Pendra, and another 14 km in Chhattisgarh, as well as the Angul-Balram railway link in Odisha.

Coal India, railway subsidiary Ircon International, and state governments are jointly coming up with these projects.

The PMO is also monitoring the progress of the Rs 814-billion project of Eastern and Western dedicated freight corridors, covering a 3,360-km track. During 2017-18 (FY18), Indian Railways posted its highest freight earnings of Rs 1.17 trillion, up from Rs 80 billion in 2016-17 (FY17).

“Even after the dedicated freight corridor is in place, the railways will have to carry a major chunk of the freight traffic, especially coal. Hence, the PMO wants these 14 projects to be implemented at a faster pace,” an official said.

Increasing freight traffic would be vital for the future of the railways, as it accounts for almost 65 paise of every rupee earned by the railways. This is used to subsidise passenger traffic.  

In FY18, the railways handled 1,162 mt of freight, up from 1,109 mt in FY17. These projects are considered to be vital, as the availability of coal in the power sector seems to be a concern during the peak season.