22 Oct 2020  |   05:42am IST

No stopping the coal trains: 5.2 lakh tonnes moved from MPT in 20 days of Oct

Pandemic no bar for unbridled coal run; Every fear of people and activists of a coal tsunami on the tracks is true
No stopping the coal trains: 5.2 lakh tonnes moved from MPT in 20 days of Oct

DHIRAJ HARMALKAR


VASCO: Despite the ongoing strong opposition to the transportation of coal via Goa, cargo trains continue to ply on the South Western Railway (SWR) line transporting the mineral to Karnataka. Even the pandemic has not stopped it.

From October 1 to October 20, there were 5.2 lakh tonnes of coal that were transported from MPT to the neighbouring State. In all, 132 rakes (cargo trains) filled with coal were run as per sources from the South Western Railway (SWR), a source told Herald. This works to around six to seven cargo trains a day carrying coal leaving from Vasco.

Contrast this to passenger trains that have plied in the same period originating from Vasco. Since October 1, 2020 till October 20, there have been 20 Goa Express trains, and the weekly train Vasco-Nizamuddin Humsafar Express that has run thrice till October 21. “These express trains have to be compulsorily reserved and nobody can travel in the general section,” a railway official said.

Asked whether local passenger trains operating within Goa are running, the source said that the trains such as the Vasco-Collem local passenger train has not been running for months, since the services were stopped during the first lockdown of March.

To support these figures of coal transportation, an anti-coal activist from Mormugao, Xencor Polgi, said that as per information available with him, shipment of 60,000 tonnes of content comes to the port and from this around 45,000 tonnes of coal is transported via railways and the remainder is transported via road.

He added that one wagon of a train carries around 50 tonnes of coal and a full rake can carry around 3,500 to 3,800 tonnes of coal. “Usually there are more than 50 wagons to a rake,” Polgi said.

It had been stated, during the public hearing on expansion of the coal handling facilities, that each wagon spills out 300 kg of coal on a journey of 600 km. Imagine the pollution along the way.

Putting things into perspective, a shipping agent on condition of anonymity revealed that MPT in its EIA report stated that in 2015-16, the port handled 14.09 (about 1 crore 17 lakh tonnes) million tonnes of thermal/coking coal out of 20.78 million tonnes of cargoes. Therefore, in that period it works out to be more than 10 lakh tonnes per month.

Considering each rake carries about 2000 tonnes, it works out to 500 rakes per month and breaking it up further to 16 rakes a day. Consider also that 16 empty uncovered rakes return, which comes to the movement of 32 rakes per day. These are conservative estimations based on 2015-16 figures.


IDhar UDHAR

Idhar Udhar