In a big push for ‘Make In India’, the Ministry of Railways has firmed up a road map to start domestic production of high speed wheels and high strength rail tracks — its two major import items.
Speaking to presspersons, Railways Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Friday said that the Railways has issued a tender for manufacturing high speed wheels in India to cater to domestic demand and also begin their exports, and a similar tender for manufacture and exports of high strength tracks will be out in a month’s time.
“We undertook a detailed exercise to study what we import and high speed wheels and high strength rail are two major items. We are working towards not only catering to domestic demand but also on becoming exporters from importers,” Mr Vaishnaw said.
As per the tender issued, a manufacturing plant with a capacity to produce at least 80,000 such wheels will be set up within 18 months. These will be forged wheels that are used for high speed trains such as Vande Bharat as well as for LHB coaches.
The Railways will assure procurement of 80,000 wheels at an estimated cost of about ₹600 crore per annum for 20 years.
The Minister said this is the first time the Railways has floated a tender to invite private players to build a wheel plant and make wheels for high-speed trains in India. He added that there will also be a condition that the player will have to export wheels to other markets. The companies bidding for the tender have to be an Indian manufacturer with good expertise in the metal industry.
The current requirement of Indian Railways is about two lakh wheels per year. About half of it will be met via Steel Authority of India Limited's Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited. Currently, the Railways imports the bulk of its wheels from countries like Ukraine, Germany and the Czech Republic.
Recently, it had to face major delays in procurement due to the Russia-Ukraine war, and had to place a purchase order for 39,000 wheels from a Chinese manufacturer.
