Bhubaneswar: The East Coast Railway (ECoR) has loaded 311 rakes of fly-ash from its jurisdiction towards different destinations of the country with due adherence of environment guidelines, within a period of 17 months, the ECoR stated on Friday. This was an outcome of a consistent effort of the Business Development Unit (BDU) of ECoR, the ECoR added.
ECoR BDU in its frequent interaction with the customers and industries explored ways to increase miscellaneous non-bulk goods traffic through rail. In a move to increase Railway’s share in the transportation sector and ensure modal transit from road to rail, ECoR BDU has taken an initiative to transport fly-ash towards different destinations of the country from the industries under ECoR jurisdiction.
“This is one of the steps towards strengthening Railway’s share in traditional transportation patterns and also to attract more traffic to Railways,” a senior Railway official said.
“Participants of Fly Ash transportation have jointly agreed to make concerted efforts for utilisation of fly ash to 100% as per the guidelines of Ministry of Environment and ensuring this by the joint effort of the producer of fly ash, transporter and the end-users.”
ECoR BDU regularly holds meetings with representatives of Thermal Power Plants, Integrated Steel Plants, Aluminium Smelter Plants and Cement Plants for transportation of Fly Ash by Rail.
During the period September 15, 2020 to February 16, 2022, 311 rakes (goods train) of fly ash have already been transported towards different parts of the country. Total 141 Rakes of fly ash were transported from Khurda Road Division, while 138 rakes from Sambalpur and 32 rakes from Waltair Division have been moved.
In 2020-21 fiscal, ECoR had carried 91 rakes of fly ash weighing 0.356 MT. From April 1, 2021 to February 16, 2022, ECoR has carried 0.847 MT of fly ash in 220 rakes. This includes 99 rakes from Angul area, 91 rakes from Sambalpur area and 30 from Koraput & Visakhapatnam areas. Altogether, ECoR has loaded 1.20 MT of fly ash during this period, the ECoR further stated.
