Indian Railways has been able to ramp up coal loading to 421 rakes per day on an average in the month of May, senior officials told CNBC-TV18.

The daily average for the month at 421 rakes is higher than the target of 415 rakes, officials said, adding that the coal loading increased further to 468 rakes on May 31.
The coal availability with thermal power plants, which had earlier dipped to around 19 million tonne, has been able to increase with the focus on the transportation of coal. As per the recent estimate, the coal availability with thermal power plants has increased to more than 23 million tonne, officials added.

With the increase in coal availability, Indian Railways is likely to undertake less number of cancellations of passenger train services in the month of June as compared to April and May, officials said.
In April, Indian Railways announced its plan to cancel around 657 passenger train trips in order to give priority to the transportation of rakes carrying coal to power plants across the country.
Further, Indian Railways had cancelled more passenger trains in May, taking the total number of such cancellations to 1,041 passenger train trips. These measures were implemented against the backdrop of several states and union territories facing a severe power crisis in the month of April and May amid an increase in demand for electricity and a spike in the requirement for coal.
Source: CNBCTV18