Wednesday, August 8, 2012

Puttur to Attipattu via Uthukottai Railway Route


Puttur to Attipattu via Uthukottai railway route

According to Ms Viswanathan, good rail connectivity can boost a port's business potential tremendously. JNPT is a good example of this as it is able to attract to cargo from across the country by rail.
On the contrary, while Ennore port is ready in other aspects, the rail connectivity is not yet in place. There should be well-planned rail links when a port is designed, as was the case at Karaikal, she said.
With the cargo volume of coal and iron ore to improve substantially in the months to come, rail connectivity will be critical to the port's success.
The Railways has finalised the year's plans for Ennore port, including enhanced connectivity to the port from Athipattu station. Southern Railway has also got sanction for laying a new line between Puttur and Athipattu, which will serve to decongest the highly saturated Tiruvallur-Chennai sector and provide a shorter route for iron-ore traffic to Ennore port.
The cost of this 88-km line has been estimated at nearly Rs 450 crore.
In addition, Ennore port will have rail sidings for iron ore, coal and containers. Seven other companies, including Zuari Cements, India Cements, Adani Agro, Indian Oil Corporation, HPCL, Indian Oil Petronas and private container firms such as Box Tram, Gateway Rail Freight and Sical have approached the Railways for creating sidings, according to sources in Southern Railway.
Ms Viswanathan said it takes 2-3 years for getting permission and commissioning of rail projects, while it took just nine months at the Karaikal port.
The new line from Puttur to Attipattu is a must for movement of large volumes of cargo from and to Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka.
Rail facilities at any greenfield port project should be planned ahead of the port facilities, and, if necessary, the railway project could be implemented through public-private participation, in a time-bound manner, Ms Viswanathan said.
Disjointed growth
Rail, road, air and sea are crucial components of cargo movement. “But it is unfortunate that there is disjointed growth in all these spheres with little coordination among most of the agencies concerned.
As a result, while there has been progress in some areas of connectivity, there is no comprehensive or complete networking,” said Mr G. Raghu Shankar, Chairman, SICCI Shipping Committee, at the Shipping Conclave.
“Ennore has abundant virgin land to create a world-class facility. But even this port has not grown the way it ought to have grown in its years of existence. There is a lack of planning at the early stage for proper connectivity using all modes of transport,” he said.
“Ennore Port cannot today boast of great connectivity and the growth seen is driven by the market rather than marketed by the port. Car manufacturers moving to or intending to move to Ennore Port is more because of the bottlenecks in Chennai Port and the dirty nature of cargo handled by the latter than the facilities offered by Ennore Port,” he said.
Ennore Port moots rail loop to help iron ore exporters
Our Bureau
CHENNAI, April 22
ENNORE Port Ltd has suggested to the Railway Ministry to form a new railway loop line bypassing the crowded Tiruvallur-Chennai section to help iron ore exporters.
The new line, likely to be about 80-km-long, will branch off at Puttur and then reach Athipattu near the port, according to Mr M. Raman, Chairman and Managing Director of EPL.
He told a press conference here on Tuesday that if the Railway Ministry could not commit the funds required for this line, then a special purpose vehicle could be formed by the port, the Railways and iron ore exporters, which could take up the project. Iron ore from the Bellary-Hospet region in Karnataka would be exported through the port.
The concept was still in the preliminary stages and the port hoped that an inter-ministerial meeting could be convened to push the idea forward.
This new loop line was essential if exporting iron ore through the Ennore Port was to be economically viable for the exporters. Simultaneously, the port hoped to award the contract for building an iron ore berth capable of handling 10-12 million tonnes per annum by July. The port also hoped to begin dredging work to increase the draft to 18 m so that 200,000 tonne vessels could be handled, he said.
The investment in the new railway line would be about Rs 160-170 crore and the special purpose vehicle could take it up with a debt equity ratio of 2:1.
The Railways had done surveys on the proposed line and come up with two alignments. The new line would reduce the distance by nearly 35 km and offer freight advantage to the iron ore exporters.
Mr Raman said Ennore Port would award the contract on a BOT basis for another coal terminal and a marine liquid cargo terminal by June-July. All the three berths — coal, marine liquid cargo and iron ore — were expected to be ready by June-July 2005. The dredging to increase the draft to 18 m would cost about Rs 195 crore and Ennore Port planned to ask the Government of India for a grant for this purpose.
He said EPL was in the process of swapping its high cost debt - borrowed at about 14 per cent interest from the Government of India and the Chennai Port Trust - with low cost funds. The Chennai Port Trust had agreed to substitute its earlier loan carrying an interest of 14 per cent per annum to 10.5 per cent now. Likewise, the Kandla Port Trust had agreed to lend to EPL at 9.75 per cent to enable Ennore Port to prepay some Government of India loan. A few banks and financial institutions had also evinced interest in swapping the high cost loans. The port hoped to bring down its average interest to 9 - 11 per cent, which would result in an annual saving of Rs 20 crore.
Mr Raman said Reliance Industries would start handling petroleum products at the Ennore Port by July and Bannari Amman Sugars molasses for exports next month. Reliance had acquired land near the port and set up tankage facilities. It was expected to handle about two lakh tonnes of petroleum products this year and five lakh tonnes next year.
During 2002-03, the first full year of operations, the Ennore Port handled 154 vessels and 8.485 million tonnes of coal. During June 2001 to March 2002, the port handled 71 vessels and 3.401 million tonnes of coal. The port handles coal exclusively for the Tamil Nadu Electricity Board. Its total income for 2002-03 was Rs 77.68 crore, and after accounting for an interest of Rs 55.66 crore and a depreciation of Rs 16.02 crore, the port recorded a net loss of Rs 2.78 crore. Next year, with the debt swap and higher traffic, the port was confident of recording a profit.
The port expected to handle about 10 million tonnes of cargo this year and this figure was expected to go up to 40 million tonnes by 2006-07.

Chennai-Aththipattu-Puttur - 88 Km - 447 Crs.


The Railways has finalised the year's plans for Ennore port, including enhanced connectivity to the port from Athipattu station. Southern Railway has also got 
sanction for laying a new line between Puttur and Athipattu, which will serve to 
decongest the highly saturated Tiruvallur-Chennai sector and provide a shorter 
route for iron-ore traffic to Ennore port. 

The cost of this 88-km line has been estimated at nearly Rs 450 crore. 

In addition, Ennore port will have rail sidings for iron ore, coal and 
containers. Seven other companies, including Zuari Cements, India Cements, Adani Agro, Indian Oil Corporation, HPCL, Indian Oil Petronas and private container firms such as Box Tram, Gateway Rail Freight and Sical have approached the Railways for creating sidings, according to sources in Southern Railway. 

Ms Viswanathan said it takes 2-3 years for getting permission and commissioning of rail projects, while it took just nine months at the Karaikal port. 

The new line from Puttur to Attipattu is a must for movement of large volumes of cargo from and to Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka. 

Rail facilities at any greenfield port project should be planned ahead of the port facilities, and, if necessary, the railway project could be implemented through public-private participation, in a time-bound manner, Ms Viswanathan said. 


4.88 With  a  view to decongest freight movement in the  CMA, S.Rly. has drawn up  a
plan  to  construct  a  new  railway  line  between  Athipattu  and Puttur/  Thiruvallur  to
bypass northeast and south-west rail corridors.