Power crisis: Railways-coal sector rift continues
Daily shortage of 25 rakes from May 1-7, says an insider; Railways refutes charge
Despite the continuing power crisis in north India, the Indian Railways has failed to meet the demand for rakes for the transportation of coal during the first week of May, say sources.
In the first seven days of May, Coal India Ltd needed 290 rakes per day to meet the demand from the power sector. However, the national transporter managed to supply only 265 rakes a day, although that was an improvement of 8 per cent over the last financial year.
“There was a demand shortage of 25 rakes a day for Coal India between May 1 and May 7,” said a coal sector source. The Indian Railways has refuted the allegation, saying that rake availability for coal has been their priority during this crisis. Official data by the ministry suggests that average coal loading from Coal India in the first week of May was 280 rakes.
The shortfall in the availability of rakes is continuing despite daily stakeholder meetings and the decision of the railways to cancel several passenger trains to prioritise the movement of coal rakes. According to sources, the problem has been exacerbated by the fact that no one anticipated that the demand for power would be so high this season. The unusually high demand has been driven by economic revival and heat waves in north India.
An official said that rake availability has been made beyond what coal companies have demanded and the current shortage is likely to be a consequence of loading delays at coal sidings by the companies. "Demurrage charges incurred by CIL have increase 30 per cent on year," he added. On Thursday, the national transporter loaded 431 rakes for the power sector. On 10 May, coal loading was 417 rakes against an availability of 498 rakes and a demand for 456. One rake roughly carries 3800 tonne of coal.
“Before criticising the railways, one should look at what used to be the normal demand. Last year, we handled the highest number of rakes so far. If the railways is providing 8 per cent more than that, it’s the demand that has to be blamed,” said Vijay Dutt, former additional member of the railways.
At an inter-ministerial meeting earlier this year, the coal ministry had asked the railways to provide 441 rakes per day to meet peak demand during the summer months. As of March, the railways was falling short of this requirement by 36 rakes per day.
Sources said that the railway ministry had expressed its inability to increase rake allocation due to capacity concerns. On 29 April, when the power crisis was at its peak, the railways cancelled 753 train trips to make rakes available for the supply of coal. Even so, it was loading only 427 rakes, carrying 1.62 million tonne (mt) of coal, and falling short of the target given way back in February.
“The railways also need assured supply and investment to reduce capacity constraints,” Dutt said.
Based on the government’s data as of May 13, India’s peak power demand this time was around 191 Gigawatt, while peak shortage was around 787 Megawatt watt, although there have been signs of improvement in the availability of coal in the last one month.
The national transporter is now looking to avert this crisis next year. The railways will acquire 6000 BOX N wagons (open wagons) this financial year, which will be used solely for coal transportation. The railways recently floated a tender for 90,000 wagons, of which 20,000 are expected by the start of the next fiscal year. “Most of these will be operational by the time peak coal demand for the power sector hits next year. With this procurement, we’ll have an additional capacity of 102 rakes for coal,” a railways spokesperson said.
Official data says that the total coal and coke loaded by the railways was up by 12 per cent from April 1 to May 12 of the current financial year. However, unloading was down 39 per cent during the same period, hinting at a supply-side bottleneck.