BDRCL: BHARUCH – DAHEJ NEW BG LINE: FREIGHT TRAFFIC EXPECTED TO MOVE OVER THE RAILWAY LINE

1.&n= bsp; = ; The Indian Railway system normally deals with traffic that moves in large volumes and is amenable to movement in train loads. Certain commodities that move in less than train l= oad may be transported in containers. Containers may move by road or rail and a= re likely to move by rail whenever sufficient quantity moves for one or two destinations. What is important to note is that a significant portion of the products from the PCPIR are going to be Chemicals and Petro-Chemicals that = are not likely to move by rail as they would normally move by pipeline or in vi= ew of dangerous and hazardous nature of some commodities and liquids they will normally move by road unless a conscious effort is made by the railway to develop special wagons or containers for their transportation. This effort needs to be made, however, it would, not be appropriate to include such tra= ffic in the projections at this stage unless it is firmly committed to the Railw= ay.

2. = COAL: The major commodity expect= ed to move over the line shall be Coal. Adani Petronet (Dahej) Port Pvt= . Ltd. is at present developing a jetty with two berths capable of receiving Panamax vessels. Significant work has already been do= ne. The berths should be ready by March 2010 and fully operational by June’2010. The plan envisages in the first phase to install rapid handling equipment and a conveyor system capable of handling 4000 tonnes per hour will transfer coal from the ship into= a stack yard. Two high capacity stacker re-claimers shall manage the stacking area and transfer the coal to an automated wagon loading system. It is prop= osed to develop the handling facilities in two phases. In the first phase mechan= ical equipment will handle one ship at a time and in the second phase it will be possible to handle two ships simultaneously and the stacker re-claimers will also be augmented. In the first phase Adani Petronet (Dahej) Port Pvt= . Ltd. has projected an import and dispatch by rail of 5.27 Million Tonnes per annum and in the second phase of 11.10 Mil= lion Tonnes annually. With the rapid growth in the demand = for thermal coal by the Power sector, cement and fertilizer industries and the = inability of domestic coal companies to meet the demand, the requirement for import of coal (excluding coking coal used by steel plants) is going to be at least 30 million tonnes by the time the line is ready. Moreover, in terms of distance Dahej is going t= o be the most convenient location for import for a large number of power houses = and industries located in Gujarat and Maharashtra.

3. = FERTILIZER & FRM: After coal the next most significa= nt commodity expected to move over the line is Fertilizer and raw materials us= ed in the manufacture of fertilizer. India currently imports 17 Million Tonnes of Fertilizer annually. In view of the very slow growth in augmenting domestic manufacturing capacity the country will have to rely on imports. Moreover, = for the manufacture of phosphatic fertilizer the im= port of rock phosphate from countries like Jordan and Morocco will also continue. The Adani Petronet = Dahej Port is designing facilities for being able to = handle imported fertilizer and raw material at their port with special storage earmarked for this commodity. They have projected 0.27 Million Tonnes of Fertilizer and 0.51 Million Tonnes of FRM rail based traffic annually in their phase I development and 0.29 Million Tonnes of Fertilizer and 0.59 Million <= span class=3DSpellE>Tonnes of FRM rail based traffic in phase II. In addi= tion M/s Hindalco has 400,000 T= onnes per Annum unit manufacturing DAP and NPK which is first moved in bulk by ro= ad to a bagging plant and subsequently by road or rail (ex Bharuch) to its final destination. The Company also has their own jetty with a handl= ing capacity of 4.5 million tonnes of bulk cargo. Additional Fertilizer & FRM is likely to come through the facility. The present rail coefficient of fertilizer transport is very high i.e. approx 0= .8, therefore significant quantities are expected to move by rail. The Gujarat Narmada Valley Fertilizer Company is also expected to import their rock phosphate by rail from Dahej to their plant nea= r Bharuch.

4. = Desiccated Oil Cake<= /b>: There is exten= sive cultivation of Soya bean in Madhya Pradesh and a large volume of de-oil cak= e is exported in substantial volumes to various countries, as cattle feed. At present a number of west coast ports are used including the ports of Windmi= ll (near Jamnagar), Kandla and Mumbai are used for= these exports. Since the cost of transportation of De-oil Cake to the port of Dahej would be 25%-30% lower than these other ports i= n view of the shorter lead from the area of cultivation around Indore, the Port of= Dahej is expected to attract a significant volume of = DOC traffic in view of the economic advantage to exporters. In fact the Adani Petronet Dahej Port, taking this fact into account has provided exclusive space for storage of this commodity in their storage area.

5.      =              PETROCHEMICALS: Work has started= on the Anchor unit of the PCPIR, the ONGC Petro additions Limited Plant. ONGC is setting up a C2/C3 Extraction Plant with an investment of Rs 3400 Crores at Dahej. Opal is = setting up a multi-feed cracker Unit at an investment of Rs 13000 Crores. The Naptha Cracker will mainly produce Ethylene= and Propylene. Down Stream Products that will be dispatched by rail shall be HDPE (High Density Poly Ethylene) & LLDPE (Linear Low Density Poly Propylene) 1.080 Million Tonnes per Annum, Poly Propylene 0.340 Million Tonnes per Annum and a product called SBR 0.140 Milli= on Tonnes per Annum.&nb= sp; This solid cargo in the pellets/granules shall move in containers. An estimated 165 TEUs per day have been projected by OPaL= . M/s OPaL has made a request for the constructio= n of a private siding to facilitate this movement. In addition liquid cargo to the extent of 0.270 Million Tonnes per year of Benz= ene and Hydrogenated Py Gas has been forecast which= is likely to move by road in tankers unless suitable rail based tank containers are developed for this traffic.

6.      =              STEEL & STEEL PIPES: M/s Welspun have a major unit manufacturing SAW (Submerge= d Arc Welded) Pipes at Dahej. The Railway line will facilitate the movement of Steel from Steel plants such as Bhilai and Rourkela to Dahej. Moreover, finished pipes= can move in train loads from Dahej to their final destination. Some steel traff= ic is also likely to move into the area for construction activity that is likely = to take place on account of new investment coming into the PCPIR and Port. Dahej Port had also been identified as a location for= ship building activity which would also require steel. M/s ABG Ship yards are already setting up a ship yard and others are companies are likely to set up units in the near future. Gujarat Maritime Board has identified 4-5 additio= nal yards on the Narmada face at Dahej.

7.      =              OTHER TRAFFIC: In view of develo= pments in the area particularly new construction some quantity of cement will move= to Dahej and additional containerized traffic from new downstream industries is likely to be generated. The Hindalco<= /span> unit also produces other products which have tremendous potential for rail movement. These include phospho-gypsum used in = cement manufacturing, brick manufacturing, Plaster of Paris and Copper Slag used f= or shot blasting as abrasive and as sub base and land filling for roads. The volume of other traffic that would move over the railway line could be significant.

        =             &nb= sp;          The summary of expected traffic on the line is as follows (in millio= n tonnes):

         =

COMMODITY<= /b>

2011-12

2015-16

2019-20

LEAD

COAL

3.25

4.50

4.75

257.00

FERTILIZER & FRM

1.10

1.40

1.60

772.00

D-OIL CAKE

0.50

1.00

1.50

550.00

STEEL

0.12

0.30

0.30

1678.00

STEEL PIPES

0.10

0.15

0.15

673.00

CONTAINERS LOADED (TEU)

2160

58000

60000

350.00

CONTAINERS EMPTY (TEU)

2160

58000

60000

350.00

OTHERS

0.10

0.20

0.25

500.00

TOTAL<= /p>

5.17*<= /p>

7.55*<= /p>

8.55*<= /p>

=

        =             &nb= sp;            =             &nb= sp;         *Does not include containerized traffic

COMMODITY<= /b>	2011-12	2015-16	2019-20	LEAD

COAL	3.25	4.50	4.75	257.00
FERTILIZER & FRM	1.10	1.40	1.60	772.00
D-OIL CAKE	0.50	1.00	1.50	550.00
STEEL	0.12	0.30	0.30	1678.00
STEEL PIPES	0.10	0.15	0.15	673.00
CONTAINERS LOADED (TEU)	2160	58000	60000	350.00
CONTAINERS EMPTY (TEU)	2160	58000	60000	350.00
OTHERS	0.10	0.20	0.25	500.00
TOTAL<= /p>	5.17*<= /p>	7.55*<= /p>	8.55*<= /p>	=