New rail lines boost coal evacuation infra

06 Jan 2021 CW Team

The coal ministry has said that the government is taking several initiatives to augment the coal evacuation infrastructure, including the laying of new railway lines.

The coal ministry, in its reply to a question by bidders, said that the government is taking numerous initiatives to augment coal evacuation infrastructure, including new railway lines, and presently undertaking studies to enhance the evacuation infrastructure.

Last month, the coal ministry re-invited bids for four coal blocks, whose tender process was declared invalid in the first round of auction for commercial mining as the number of technically qualified bidders for each mine was just one.

The coal ministry also said that a proposal to acquire land under coal-bearing areas has been prepared by the government, and the states are being consulted regarding the proposal. Per the applicable law, it is the responsibility of the bidder to undertake land acquisition.

Earlier, the coal ministry claimed that state-owned Coal India Ltd (CIL) would invest over Rs 1.22 lakh crore on coal evacuation, exploration, and clean coal technologies by 2023-24 to achieve 1 billion tonnes of fuel output target. Of the proposed spend of over Rs 1.22 lakh crore, the ministry said, CIL has planned to invest Rs 25,117 crore on mine infrastructure, Rs 32,696 crore on coal evacuation, and Rs 29,461 crore on project development by 2023-24. CIL accounts for over 80% of the total domestic coal output.

Infrastructure Transport

12 Mar 2026

Kavach 4.0 Commissioned on Delhi–Mumbai and Delhi–Howrah

"Kavach version four has been commissioned on 1,452 route km, covering the high density Delhi–Mumbai and Delhi–Howrah corridors. The rollout included laying 8,570 km of optical fibre, installation of 1,100 telecom towers, deployment of trackside equipment over 6,776 RKm and establishment of 767 station data centres. Trackside implementation has been taken up on 24,427 RKm covering Golden Quadrilateral, Golden Diagonal and High Density Network sections. The programme aims to strengthen signalling and train protection on key routes.Kavach is an indigenously developed automatic train protecti..

Railways Advance Kalyan–Murbad Line And Mumbai Capacity Expansion

"Indian Railways is advancing multiple rail infrastructure projects in Maharashtra, including the sanctioned Kalyan–Murbad new line and sizable investments under the Mumbai Urban Transport Project and the Mumbai–Ahmedabad High Speed Rail project. The Kalyan–Murbad 28 km new line has been sanctioned at Rs 8.36 billion (bn) on a 50:50 cost-sharing basis with the Government of Maharashtra and has been declared a Special Railway Project for land acquisition; proposals covering 214 hectares are at various stages of acquisition. Budgetary outlay for projects falling fully or partly in Maharash..

Parliamentary Panel Flags Funding Gaps in Heavy Industries

"The Department-Related Parliamentary Standing Committee on Industry (Rajya Sabha) presented its 332nd report on the Demands for Grants 2026-27 of the Ministry of Heavy Industries (MHI). Figures converted from crore and lakh are expressed in million (mn). The Budget Estimates 2026-27 for the Ministry stand at Rs 79,399 mn against a projected requirement of Rs 94,843.2 mn, a shortfall of about 16 per cent, with revenue at Rs 79,370.8 mn and capital compressed to Rs 28.2 mn from Rs 5,020 mn.The committee flagged recurring BE-to-RE compression and declining revised estimate utilisation, and calle..