Indian Railways to build rail connectivity to coal pitheads.

Indian Railways, which gets about a third of its overall revenue from coal transportation, has fast-tracked its plan to build rail connectivity to coal bearing areas in central and eastern India by involving stakeholders like Coal India and NTPC as part-investors. These rail lines entailing a collective investment to the tune of INR 10,000 crore can potentially boost India's coal output by a massive 300 million tonne, given that transportation bottlenecks hamper development of potentially rich coal mines in these areas.

While the new rails to pitheads will be built in Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and Odisha, NTPC will be extending some of these lines to its upcoming power stations along the east coast.

Coal India's output for FY14 was 462 million tonne and it accounts for 80% of India's total production of the fuel.

According to official sources, what has lent momentum to the plan now is the Narendra Modi government assuming office. The national transporter, the sources said, has prepared a blueprint for the rail projects, including the financing options.

To put all these projects on the fast track, the Railway Board has mooted the idea of a high-level infrastructure committee that would look into the pithead and port connectivity projects.

Steel Guru