CIL to construct 21 railway sidings at cost of Rs 3,370 crore

State-owned Coal India Ltd CIL on Monday said it is constructing 21 railway sidings at an estimated investment of Rs 3,370 crore in four of its subsidiaries, an effort towards strengthening its rail infrastructure.

State-owned Coal India Ltd (CIL) on Monday said it is constructing 21 railway sidings at an estimated investment of Rs 3,370 crore in four of its subsidiaries, an effort towards strengthening its rail infrastructure. These railway sidings would be commissioned by FY'24. CIL currently has around 152 rail sidings and the tally would go up to 173 by 2024, CIL said in a statement.

CIL underpinning for a cleaner environment in coal transportation has placed increased impetus on rail evacuation and would gradually migrate away from the road movement of the dry fuel, it added. Reduced road transportation of coal would depress the dust pollution and save on the diesel costs, the statement said. Ending November of the ongoing fiscal, CIL's exclusive rail coal movement at around 202 million tonnes (MT) went up by 16 percent, on a year-on-year comparison, while the road mode fell by 33 percent. During 2019-20 as well, the road movement of coal was down by 11 percent. Rail mode transportation accounted for 56 percent of the total coal offtake of CIL in the April-November period.

Rail and Merry-Go-Round combined was close to 76 percent. ''The sidings will add fillip to CIL's First Mile Connectivity efforts, acting as effective coal evacuation outlets. The dovetailing of existing and new rail sidings with rapid loading system silos of FMC projects will help improve loading quantity in future when production expands,'' a senior official of the company said.

CIL is aiming to move about 555 MT of coal per year through mechanized means by FY'24. With CIL aspiring for one billion tonne output by FY'24, the nudge is to transport the bulk of the coal through rail mode. Against this backdrop, CIL is ramping up its rail evacuation facilities.

South Eastern Coalfields Ltd (SECL) accounts for 10 of the proposed 21 sidings followed by Central Coalfields Ltd (CCL) with six, Eastern Coalfields Ltd (ECL) three, and Bharat Coking Coal Ltd (BCCL) two. Apart from investing in new sidings, CIL is refurbishing old sidings, strengthening rail connectivity between the sidings and the main rail lines. CIL is also investing in the construction of new broad gauge rail lines in greenfield areas either on a deposit basis or by the formation of rail JVs with Indian Railways and the concerned state governments.

To bolster further capacity enhancement CIL will be extending the rail links to newer loading points and doubling and tripling the lines in some cases. Jharsuguda-Sardegna rail line in Odisha under MCL is being doubled and construction of a double line flyover at Jharsuguda is on the anvil. In Jharkhand under CCL, Tori-Shivpur's new broad-gauge double rail line has been laid and Tori-Shivpur's third rail line is underway.

Construction of Shivpur-Kathautia rail link is also being planned through a rail JV of CCL.