State-owned steel maker Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Ltd (RINL) is planning to produce 55,000 wheels in the current fiscal year to meet the demand from Indian Railways, according to the company’s CMD Atul Bhatt.
The Visakhapatnam based steel PSU has set up a forged wheel plant in Uttar Pradesh’s Lalganj, with a capacity to manufacture one lakh forged wheels annually. The plant was established at an estimated cost of Rs 2,350 crore.
Bhatt said that preliminary acceptance certificates have been issued for the plant, and production will be increased to 55,000 wheels to meet the Railways’ demand.
RINL has already supplied 2,465 Loco wheels and 2,639 LHB wheels to the Railways in FY23, and the targeted 50 per cent utilisation of the plant will significantly reduce the dependence on imports.
“RINL supplied 2,465 Loco wheels and 2,639 LHB wheels to Railways in FY23. Preliminary Acceptance Certificate (PAC) has been issued for the plant and very soon production will be ramped up to 55,000 wheels in the current fiscal to meet the demand of Railways,” Bhatt was quoted as saying by news agency PTI.
The state-owned steel maker started supplying wheels in December 2021 when the first consignment of 51 loco wheels was flagged off from its Rae Bareli unit in UP to the Railways.
The RINL CMD claimed that the plant is one of the most modern plants in the world and the first of its kind in India, equipped with state-of-the-art technology and the highest level of sophistication and automation.
The forged wheels produced at the plant can meet the requirement of high-speed trains that run at a speed of 200 kilometers per hour, he added.
Bhatt added that the plant has the potential to double its annual capacity to 200,000 wheels by incorporating some additional facilities, to meet both domestic and international demand.