One of the biggest coal fields is in Talcher of Mahanadi Coalfield, which has around 52 BT of coal resources, or 15% of all projected coal resources in the nation. More than 63 percent (33 BT) of the Talcher Coalfield’s exploitable resources are located within 300 metres of the surface, offering great potential for open cast mining.
Talcher coalfields, using coal from Mahanadi Coalfields Limited and allotted coal blocks, generated more than 95 Million Tonnes (MT) of coal in FY22 and is expected to produce around 200 MT in FY 2024–2025 and about 300 MT by FY 2030. In order to assure effective coal evacuation, Talcher Coalfields’ MCRL rail line construction began in stages (Mahanadi Coal Railway Limited).
The Ministry of Coal has identified construction of MCRL Phase I & II project as high Impact project under PM Gatishakti. “Mahanadi Coal Railway Limited (MCRL)” was incorporated on 31.08.2015 with 64% share of Mahanadi Coalfield Limited (MCL), 26% of IRCON and 10% share of Industrial Development Corporation of Odisha (IDCO)
The Alignment of the project traverses through Angul district in Odisha. Angul and Jarapda are existing stations of Indian Railways network. Balram is existing loading station in Talcher –Balram private siding of MCL.
MCRL Phase-I (Angul-Balram) of 14 Km length is expected to be operationalized by this year. This railway line will cater to evacuation of 25 MT coal from MCL mines in Talcher Coalfields.
MCRL Phase-II (Balram-Jarpada-Tentuloi) of 54 Km is expected to be commissioned by Dec’2025. It provides connectivity to allocated coal blocks on the southern side and central part of Talcher Coalfields.
Phase-II is progressing rapidly, notification for Land acquisition and Forestry Clearances have been obtained. This railway line will cater to evacuation of coal from CIL & Non-CIL Coal Blocks in Talcher Coalfields ~58 MT. Thus MCRL rail corridor will be a game changer in the evacuation of coal from Talcher coalfields. The rail corridor will improve faster movement of coal rakes to Paradip and Damra ports thereby decongesting rail network and this will also reduce transportation cost considerably. Shipping routes are much cheaper compared to rail network and improves coal availability in southern and western region of the country.
