CIL's Northern Coalfields, Indian Railways to invest up to Rs 6,000 crore in tracks

KOLKATA: Coal India subsidiary Northern Coalfields and the railways are jointly investing about Rs 6,000 crore in Madhya Pradesh to lay new tracks and turn the existing ones into dual gauge, a move the coal behemoth hope will help it sell an additional 15 million tonnes of the fuel.

“Although we would be producing 100 million tonnes of coal this year, our ability to send coal to upcountry consumers are limited due to congestion in existing rail network around our mines. Once the railway projects are completed, coal sale to consumers in north India is expected to rise,” Northern Coalfields chairman PK Sinha told ET.

Northern Coalfields has 11 operational mines in Moher Basin of Madhya Pradesh’s Singrauli district. The mines are surrounded by power plants of NTPC, Lanco and state-owned power companies with aggregate capacity of 14,400 MW. More than half of the coal produced at these mines is delivered to these power plants through dedicated rail tracks. The country’s upcountry consumers are expected to get about 32 million tonnes of coal this year.

A senior Northern Coalfields’ executive said the company has decided to invest about Rs 1,150 crore this year in expanding its production capabilities. “The plan is to expand production capability so that we can send more coal once the railway expansion projects are complete,” the executive said.

The plan includes doubling the production capacities of its Jayant and Dudhcihua coal blocks to 20 million tonnes per annum. Expansion projects also include jacking up Bina coal blocks’ production capacity from 7.5 million tonnes to 10.5 million tonnes.

Once the railway projects are complete, the company hopes to send about 47 million tonnes of coal to consumers outside its pithead area.

Railway projects include laying a new 11-km long track from its coal block at Amlohri to the adjacent block, Jayant, both in Madhya Pradesh. The Jayant coal block is already connected to a railway network. The project cost, to be borne by Northern Coalfields, is estimated at Rs 650 crore and is scheduled to be completed by March next year.

The second project is by Indian Railways, and it includes doubling and electrification of tracks between Shaktinagar and Kerala at an estimated investment of Rs 541 crore. The project is expected to be completed by March 2020.

“Once electrification of all tracks in the area is complete, our ability to send coal to northern India will increase by around 20%,” said a senior executive of Northern Coalfields.

The railways have also undertaken a project to double tracks between Katini and Singrauli at an investment of Rs 2,085 crore. It has also taken up a project to double tracks between Singrauli and Ramni at an investment of Rs 2,675 crore. Both projects are expected to be completed by March 2020, by which time its production capabilities would have increased to sell more coal to upcountry customers.