Rlys ups coal supply to power plants
The national carrier will touch a record 200 rakes of coal a day to plants. It has already touched the 199 mark. By stepping up the carrying capacity to match with the 10.7 per cent increase in coal supplied to Railways by Coal India Limited, it has apparently made breathing easy for around 22 power plants that were earlier termed “critical” and “super critical”.
The Centre has been pulling up both the coal mining sector and the power sectors for less-than satisfactory output this year.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has been directing the various organisations to make sure that power production does not remain off target.
The blame, however, has often been on the railways for its “failure” to carry coal adequately and promptly.
But since November with the railways has been managing its rolling stock to clock 175 rakes per day from the usual average of around 157. In fact, Coal India’s pit-head stock (lower the better) has now decreased from 70 million tonne in April to 43 million tonne in November, a 40 per cent fall.
This has increased the earnings of railways at a time when it is hard-pressed for money. Its earnings from coal is up by 13 per cent although its overall net-tonne-km is lagging behind target.
However, officials
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