NEW DELHI: The government should move more coal from mines to the thermal power plants by all rail routes (ARR) instead of rail-ship-rail (RSR) mode, a railway ministry report has recommended while highlighting the transportation cost through AAR are both economical and less time consuming. The coal transportation by AAR is cheaper by up to 60% and the transit time is around 50% less.
Analysing the movement of coal on three major routes, the report has estimated that railways lost around Rs 1,383 crore revenue in the past five years due to coal movement by RSR route. As per government data, currently around 23% of total coal reaches power plants from mines by RSR route which is expensive.
