RRB Practice 18

The transportation of coal and iron ore by rail is fundamental to India's industrial economy, as these two commodities are the primary raw materials for steel production and the principal fuel for electricity generation at thermal power plants, which together account for the majority of freight revenue earned by Indian Railways. India's coal reserves are concentrated primarily in the Gondwana coalfields of Jharkhand, Odisha, Chhattisgarh, West Bengal, and Madhya Pradesh, and the thermal power stations that consume this coal are distributed across consuming states far from the coalfields, requiring the movement of very large quantities of coal over distances of hundreds to thousands of kilometres. Coal India Limited, the state-owned coal mining company and the world's largest coal producer, dispatches millions of tonnes of coal per month by rail, and the capacity of the rail network to receive, load, haul, and deliver this coal is directly linked to the ability of power stations to maintain their generating capacity and of India to meet its electricity demand. Special rakes of BOXN wagons, high capacity bottom-discharge open wagons, are allocated to major coal loading stations and run in closed circuits between colliery sidings and power station unloading facilities, minimising time spent outside the loading and unloading cycle. The average cycle time of these rakes, from one loading to the next, is a key performance metric and has been progressively reduced through investment in rapid loading installations, merry-go-round systems that allow wagons to be loaded without the rake stopping, and mechanised wagon tipplers at receiving ends that discharge coal from wagons without the need for manual unloading. Iron ore, mined primarily in the rich deposits of Odisha, Jharkhand, and Goa, must be transported to steel plants concentrated at Bhilai, Bokaro, Rourkela, Vizag, and other locations, as well as to ports for export. The BOBR wagon is designed for iron ore transport, with a high capacity body on a low-floor frame that takes advantage of the high density of iron ore to maximise the weight of ore per wagon without exceeding the maximum axle load on the route. The Dedicated Freight Corridor has been designed with higher axle loads of 25 tonnes compared to the existing network's predominantly 22.9 tonnes, allowing heavier wagons carrying more ore or coal per axle and improving the cost-efficiency of bulk mineral transport. Critical loading stations for coal have been equipped with weigh-in-motion systems that record the weight of loaded wagons without requiring the train to stop, improving the speed and accuracy of weighment and reducing disputes between Railways and customers over freight charges. The National Rail Plan recognises the need to increase the modal share of railways in bulk commodity movement as a strategic national objective, reducing the environmental and road damage caused by the movement of these commodities by heavy road vehicles.