Dikhyaa Mohanty 
In an effort to integrate Rail-Sea-Rail (RSR) transportation for the effective movement of domestic coal, the Ministry of Coal has taken the initiative to promote Rail-Sea-Rail. The smooth movement of coal from mines to ports and subsequently to end customers is made possible by this multimodal transportation system, which lowers transportation costs and boosts logistical effectiveness.
About 75% of the entire domestic raw coal dispatch for the fiscal year FY’23 was made up of major coal-producing states including Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, and portions of Madhya Pradesh. The Ministry of Coal has forecast that coal output in India will nearly double with a CAGR of 7.7% by FY’30, recognizing the necessity for expanded coal production.
A well-planned and effective coal evacuation system is needed to accommodate the rising demand. In order to create a long-term strategy for the nation’s coal transportation, the Ministry of Coal established an Inter-Ministerial Committee (IMC) led by AS, Coal and composed of the Ministries of Power, Railways, and Ports, Shipping, and Waterways. Approximately 55% of coal is currently evacuated by railroads, and by FY’30, it is intended to expand this percentage to 75%. The Ministry of Coal has made it a priority to increase coal evacuation and improve other routes, including RS/RSR mode, by FY’30 in order to reduce congestion. The committee has made a number of recommendations to encourage RSR coal evacuation to increase from its current level of 40MT to 112MT by 2030.
The logistics sector in India might undergo a revolution thanks to the inexpensive and environmentally beneficial coastal shipping form of transportation. The goal of current initiatives to increase coal evacuation, such RS/RSR, is to utilize the ports along the Southern and Western coasts to their fullest potential. This would make it possible to deliver additional coal to power plants in Gujarat, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Goa, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, and Andhra Pradesh in an effective manner. Efforts are being made to reduce the price of shipping coal through RSR. For end customers in Southern India, choosing rail-sea-rail may possibly result in logistics cost savings of between Rs. 760 and Rs. 1300 per ton.
The Ministry of Coal’s efforts to promote Rail-Sea-Rail are having a big impact since the amount of coal transported via Rail-Sea-Rail has increased significantly by around 125% over the last four years. A continuous and uninterrupted power supply is ensured by the effective coal evacuation to consumption centers in India, which is made possible by the Rail Sea Rail as an alternate means of transportation, which is predicted to roughly treble in India’s coal production over the next seven years.
The suggestions from the IMC are a component of the “Whole of Government” strategy to solve the issues with effective coal evacuation to the destinations by all Ministries.
