Shutting down of Jharia line hits railway revenue

Closure of the line will affect about 75% of the production of BCCL

Indian Railways (IR) will end its operation on a 35-km line between Chandrapura and Dhanbad from Thursday. The line goes through the Jharia coalfield area and is under threat of caving in due to underground fire.

Closure of the line will affect about 75 per cent of the production of Bharat Coking Coal (BCCL), subsidiary of government-owned Coal India (CIL). On an average, the route carries around 25 million tonnes (mt) of coal in a year; that means Rs 2,500 crore in rail revenue is hit.

The line also carries 12.4 million passengers, leading to an annual additional loss of around Rs