"We ourselves, and not the Railways, are to be blamed," Rao says about the failure to meet the target. He pointed to problems last month at mines under the Eastern Coalfields Ltd (ECL), Mahanadi Coalfields Ltd (MCL) and the Central Coalfields Ltd (CCL). Some of the ECL mines faced quality issues. At MCL, accidents delayed normal operations besides a day's State-sponsored bandh which suspended loading of 40 rakes in the Talcher mines. As a result, the monthly average fell by 1.3 rakes. Also, several days of bandhs observed by the Maoists hit operations in several CCL mines.