Coal ministry seeks 600 trains daily to augment supply to power plants in summer

The Union coal ministry has asked the Indian Railways to operate 600-650 freight trains a day to haul coal to power plants from May to August, anticipating increased demand for electricity this summer.

A senior railway ministry official said the coal ministry has asked the Indian Railways to ensure adequate availability of freight trains to transport coal. The official said the Indian Railways is on course to add 4,000-4,500 wagons, or 80-100 freight trains, to carry coal by April.

"In case demand rises any more, the railways has created a plan to allot another 3,000 wagons, or 60 freight trains, to be used for coal transportation in the summer months," the railway ministry said.

The railways have already designated 500 trains to carry coal, which is to fire about 208 GW, or 48%, of India’s installed power generation capacity. India will step up coal-fired generation capacity as peak electricity demand is likely to touch 256.5 GW in 2024 from a record 240 GW in 2023.

Coal demand for the power sector has been estimated at 874 million tonnes (MT) in FY25, while production has been pegged at 1,111.6 million tonnes, Amrit Lal Meena, secretary in the coal ministry, told Moneycontrol.

"Each year, we are getting better with coal production and supply. The railways is also working closely with us to open under-construction lines on priority," he said.

Legacy issues

In an interview to a media source in January, Union Minister for coal and mines Pralhad Joshi said the government is currently tackling the issue of transporting coal, most of which is hauled by rail. The coal ministry is spending ₹50,000 crore on 15 rail projects (₹26,000 crore) and first-mile connectivity (₹25,000 crore) to resolve coal transportation issues.

“Some legacy logistics issues remain despite the railway ministry, under railway minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, addressing the situation very well. The railway ministry has increased the rakes for coal transportation by a record 20%. But it will take a year or two to streamline the issue further,” Joshi said.

Additionally, the Indian Railways is working with the power and coal ministries to improve supplies to major thermal power projects in the country.

"We have adopted a corridor-based approach and the coal corridor is the most important one,” the ministry official said.

Another senior railway official said the Indian Railways has so far allocated 500 freight trains to transport coal. He said about 350 freight trains are currently used to carry coal across the country. The national carrier plans to add 70 freight trains to transport coal after February. One freight train typically has about 50 wagons carrying 4,000 tonnes of coal.

The second official said the railways is introducing wagon tipplers at power plant sites across the country to help empty the wagons faster by inverting them.

“We have started technology trials of multiple wagon tipplers simultaneously in two thermal power plants. Three coal wagons are being tippled at one point in these trials. Once these trials are conducted, we will look to launch them to dramatically improve the supply chain of coal,” the second official said.

The Indian Railways is also looking to have additional wagon unloading lines at powerhouses.

The national transporter had set a target of commissioning 4,500 km of new lines in FY23, the majority of which were on coal-supplying routes. The Indian Railways moved 728 MT of coal in FY23, against 653 MT in FY22. Of this, 569 million tonnes were supplied to the power sector compared with 485 MT in FY22.

The expected increase in coal transportation capacity by wagon induction would be about 70 MT in FY24 and 85 MT in FY25, power minister RK Singh said in the Rajya Sabha earlier this year.

The minister said the railways have identified 40 railway decongestion projects for augmentation of coal evacuation, out of which 17 have been completed and 23 are in progress. It is expected that 18 of these projects would be completed by FY27.

Higher supply of coal is crucial to meet India’s rising power demand, which is being fuelled by growing domestic and industrial consumption. Power demand in the country grew by about 9.5% in FY23.

In FY24, India’s electricity generation programme was fixed at 1,750 billion units, with over 75% to be generated from thermal power plants.