The Railways has deployed 86 per cent of its open wagons to transport coal to various power plants in the country. This will help the freight major to ease power crisis.
Out of the 1,31,403 BOXN or open wagons in its fleet, the Railways is using 1,13,880 for coal transportation, as part of a plan formulated by the national transporter in consultation with the ministries of coal and power, they said. Data shows the Railways has around 3,82,562 wagons, out of which 1,31,403 are open wagons and 3,636 of whom are in need of repair as of May 2. Daily, the Railways is loading an average of around 28,470 wagons with coal to meet the demand from power plants. A coal train usually gets up to 84 wagons. The Railways has also used an innovative method of using long-haul trains — running three to five trains together — at 122 locations in states like Jharkhand, Odisha, Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh to expedite transportation.
