Details of coal transported through railways in the past five years are given below:-
| YEAR | Coal Loading (in Million Tonnes) |
| 2017-18 | 555.20 |
| 2018-19 | 605.84 |
| 2019-20 | 586.87 |
| 2020-21 | 541.82 |
| 2021-22 | 652.80 |
Coal companies dispatch coal as per Freight on Board (FOB) basis and consumers have the liberty to lift coal in various modes such as rail, road and captive modes (Merry Go Round (MGR), Belt, Rope etc) as per their choice. Rail Sea Route (RSR) is also being used by some consumers for coal transportation. It was decided that power plants located within 20 km from pithead would construct elevated closed conveyor belt and the power plants located within 40 km from pithead would construct MGR.
Railway Board has issued guidelines/directions to all Zonal Railways in April 2018, for action to be taken with regard to handling of pollution intensive commodities at siding and goods sheds in accordance with the provisions of State Pollution Control Board.
During coal transportation through rake wagons, pollution is mainly caused during loading of coal by payloaders. To reduce the pollution caused by payloaders during loading of coal, Coal India Limited (CIL) has taken steps to upgrade the coal loading to mechanized coal loading system under ‘First Mile Connectivity’ projects.
Ministry of Railways informed that additional free time of one hour per rake has been permitted for covering open wagons with tarpaulins during loading of loose / bulk commodity (e.g Coal & Coke etc, for which packing condition P2(a) is prescribed in the Goods Tariff) at all kinds of freight terminals.
This information was given by the Minister of Coal, Mines and Parliamentary Affairs Shri Pralhad Joshi in a written reply in Lok Sabha today.