Coal news and updates

IR to increase rakes supply to CIL to 215 by Jan

September 23: Indian Railways (IR), which currently supplies an average of 185 rakes to Coal India Ltd (CIL) per day, is planning to increase the number to around 215 per day by December-January, a senior official from the Railway Board told ICMW.

"Currently, we are providing around 185 rakes to CIL per day. By December-January, this number may go up to 215," the official said.

Overall, IR plans to increase the number of rakes available for coal transportation to 370-380 per day in the peak season of December-March, 2014 from the current 330-340 per day, he said.

Of the total rakes available for loading of coal, around 75 are provided for transportation of imported coal (from ports) while the remaining rakes are supplied to CIL, SCCL, e-auction and washeries, among others.

"Coal imports are unlikely to increase much in the fourth quarter (January-March, 2014). So the number of rakes used for imported coal will remain unchanged, while the number supplied to others (including CIL) will go up," the official noted.

He, however, said that IR is currently "not happy" with CIL as the latter is not providing enough coal for loading in the rakes made available.