Adopting a proactive approach, Indian Railways has increased the coal transportation by 11.92 per cent in the current fiscal, upto February.
Loading of rakes for the power sector from various sources in the current fiscal (April 2022-February 2023) is 408 rakes per day, against 344 rakes per day in last year — an increase of 64 rakes per day.
According to the Railways, in February 2023, 426.3 rakes per day were loaded for power houses against 399 rakes per day in February 2022, an increase of 27.3 rakes.
In order to meet the projected demand for rakes by the power sector in the coming fiscal, the Railways has made higher induction of coal carrying wagons.
A total 1,018 freight locomotives have been added to the fleet of Indian Railways till end of February 2023.
Railways is expecting the commissioning of 4,500 km of new tracks in 2022-23, majority of which is on coal carrying routes. This will further improve the turnaround of coal carrying rakes.
Keeping in view the rising demand in the next few years, a comprehensive planning of the Energy Corridor has been done — with a planned investment of one lakh crore, ranging over around 100 projects.