Coal India (CIL) on Monday said that it is planning to construct 21 additional greenfield and brownfield railway sidings at an estimated investment of Rs 3,370 crore.

The 21 sidings, aimed at increasing the share of coal movement through railway network and bringing down coal movement through road, will be set up across four subsidiaries of the public sector miner and will be commissioned by 2023-24.

CIL has 152 rail sidings which will go up to 173 by 2024. “The dovetailing of existing and new rail sidings with rapid loading system silos of first mile connectivity projects will help improve loading quantity in future when production expands,” said a senior official of the company.

CIL hopes to move 555mt of coal per year through mechanised means by 2023-24.

South Eastern Coalfields will have the major share with 10 of the 21 proposed sidings at an investment of Rs 1,640 crore. Central Coalfields, Eastern Coalfields and Bharat Coking Coalfields will have the remaining sidings.

CIL's share of coal movement through the rail network has been on the rise. Ending November of the ongoing fiscal, 202 million tonnes of coal was moved exclusively through the rail network, a year on year growth of 16 per cent. In contrast, coal movement through the road network fell by 33 per cent.
Rail mode transportation accounted for 56 per cent of the total coal off-take of Coal India in April-November 2020.

Apart from investing in new sidings, CIL is refurbishing old sidings, strengthening rail connectivity between the sidings and the main rail lines. The miner is also investing in construction of new broad gauge rail lines in greenfield areas.