A fly ash rake from Simhadri Super Thermal Power Plant (NTPC), Visakhapatnam, was transported for the first time by the Waltair Division of East Coast Railway (ECoR).
The rake was loaded for ACC Limited private siding, served by Thondevhavi station under South Western Railway (SWR), which is 944 km.
The fly ash generated at NTPC stations, causes environmental pollution and also safety hazards. It is ideal for use in the manufacture of cement, concrete, concrete products, cellular concrete products, bricks/blocks/ tiles etc. The fly-ash is being transported mostly by road, which is leading to environment pollution.
This freight train consisting of 59 Box-N wagons, transported 4,000 metric tonnes of fly ash. This would have been transported in 250 trucks if it were sent by road, thus making transportation via train eco-friendly and fuel-efficient.
The first rake was flagged off by Divisional Railway Manager, Waltair, Chetan Kumar Shrivastava, Diwakar Kaushik (Group General Manager, Simhadri), and G.C. Choukse, GM (O&M) of Simhadri and Rajesh Nair, DGM (Procurement-South Cluster Region-ACC) on Thursday.
Mr. Shrivastava said that the initiative would not only generate additional loading for the Railways, but also forge a long-term partnership with NTPC. The Railways would act as a link between fly ash generators and consumption centres. The newly set-up Business Development Unit has played a key role in bringing this new traffic to the Railways, he added.
