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The ministry of railways is expecting a sharp increase in the demand for coal freight from power houses as several of the units run by state electricity boards have depleted stocks of coal.

Most units run by SEBs, except those in Tamil Nadu, have a seven to 12 day stock of coal, railway ministry sources said. Power units in the Kota region of Rajasthan have a coal stock of seven days, while the stock of units in the Nasik-Bhusaval areas of Maharashtra State Electricity Board is down to six days.

"The SEB units are expected to maintain 30 days stock. There is a strong move towards inventory control and SEBs are now targeting 15 days' stock. Even by the new trend, the stocks are very low and we expect a lot of demand in the coming weeks", the source said.

 

"We think SEBs should not be taking the risk of maintaining low stocks at a time when there are border clashes and all the possibility of the situation getting worse. Coal has to be hauled across hundred of kilometres. If the border situation turns worse, a lot of railway assets will get deployed with the defence forces and SEBs may find it difficult to get wagons when they need it," the source added.

The movement of coal, which constitutes nearly half of railway freight business, was 16.23 million tonnes in April, compared with 16.06 million tonnes in the same month last year.

This was below the target of 16.5 million tonnes set for April this year.

The railway ministry is now trying to persuade the coal and power ministries to increase the use of its facilities and use less of the road transport facilities.

"It is uneconomical to move coal by road which is costlier. It also means idling the rail infrastructure which has been created with public money," a senior railway ministry official said. ia