Railways to take 8 mt more load

The Railways will increase its annual capacity by 8 million tonnes by allowing each wagon to carry an additional 4 tonnes of goods on most of its routes during 2006-07.

The maximum permissible weight per wagon for certain routes carrying 75 per cent of the Railways' total iron ore traffic and some minerals like limestone was increased in May 2005 for a year.

"Now, the ministry has decided to raise the ceiling for most of the routes in two phases," a ministry official said.

In the first phase, the axle-load will go up from 21.8 tonnes to 22.3 tonnes. "In the next phase, it will go up to 22.9 tonnes," the official said. Every 0.5 tonne hike in the axle load translates into a 2-tonne rise in wagon capacity.

This means that each open wagon plying on these routes can load up to 66.8 tonnes instead of the usual 62.8 tonnes once the axle load goes up to 22.9 tonnes.

The hike in axle load is also important to bring about a continuity between the new dedicated corridor that is being constructed and the rest of the railway network.

"The step is important to allow seamless transportation between the corridor with a high axle load and the rest of network," the official said.

On the safety aspect of the increase in axle load putting greater stress on tracks, the official said even in the US, tracks with similar specification as those in India, had an axle load of about 29 tonnes. Also, some routes prone to accidents would be left out, the official said.

The official also pointed out that even in early 20th century when steam engines used to run and infrastructure was much less sophisticated, 23-tonne axle-load was allowed.

Besides, even now, 23-tonne limit was allowed for certain locomotives and wagons.

The official added that even Asian Development Bank officials after inspection of the tracks had recommended that the load limit could be increased.