Coal news and updates

SEC Railway rake pendency reduced

November 28: The shortage of railway rakes provided by South East Central (SEC) Railway for transport of coal and other commodities has been reduced following the slackness in demand for coal from major Independent Power Producers (IPPs) in recent months, industry sources told ICMW.

"The rake pendency is reduced after IPPs stopped taking delivery of linkage coal from Coal India Ltd (CIL) due to slack demand. This has happened during the second quarter of the current fiscal year," the sources said.

"As a result, an increased number of rakes were made available to other parties, including small coal consumers," they said. Also, the lower-than-expected production of coal by CIL in recent months has contributed to the easing of demand for rakes.

Earlier, SECL had reduced supply of rakes for transport of coal and other commodities by 20%. The primary objective of the short supply, which continued till the first quarter of 2013-14, was to clear pendency, the sources said.

Going forward, however, the situation may again turn worse as the busy season has started and the fog formation may increase the turnaround time for rakes, especially in the northern sector, they added.