China News Service, Beijing, May 29 -- To ensure the needs of earthquake relief and nationwide peak load during the summer, and to increase the inventory of thermal coal for major power plants, the Ministry of Railways decided today that from May 31st to June 10th, the daily average loading of thermal coal on trains across the country will reach 40,000 cars, an increase of over 4,700 cars per day.

The transportation of thermal coal has always been a top priority in railway transportation. To support the earthquake relief and post-disaster reconstruction efforts in Sichuan, six additional thermal coal trains have been dispatched to Sichuan every day since May 20th. Since the Wenchuan earthquake, the railway's transportation volume of thermal coal to Sichuan has reached 1.08 million tons.

The Ministry of Railways stated that the stock of thermal coal in Sichuan Province is currently abundant, with a consumption period of over 20 days, fully capable of meeting the production and living needs of the citizens.

Reporters learned from the Ministry of Railways today that the stocks of thermal coal in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, Shandong, Anhui, Hunan, Hubei, Jiangxi, and other provinces are relatively low, with the number of days of consumption falling below the warning threshold of ten days. In some individual power plants, the stock of thermal coal is even below three days. In the near future, railway agencies will focus on increasing the transportation of thermal coal to these provinces.

According to officials from the Ministry of Railways, currently, the 355 power plants in China that mainly rely on railway coal supply have a coal stock of 21.03 million tons. Based on a daily consumption of 1.93 million tons, the available coal can only last for about ten days.