Railways to set up manufacturing facility of forged Wheel Plant with capacity of 80,000 wheels per annum

New Delhi [India] March 15 : To meet the requirement of forged wheels for the rolling stock, Indian Railways had floated a tender for setting up a manufacturing plant in the country with assured offtake of 80,000 wheels per annum for the next 20 years so that the requirement is met from domestic sources.

It is important in the direction 'Make in India' Initiative for Import Substitution, officials said.

As per the official statement of the Ministry of Railways, the bidding process was very transparent and competitive. The tender was opened on 24th January 2023. Three Bids from the following firms have been received from M/s Steel Authority of India Ltd, M/s Bharat Forge, Pune, and M/s Ramakrishna Forgings, Kolkata. Price Bid opened on March 14. L1 is from M/s Ramakrishna Forgings Ltd., Kolkata. L2 is from M/s Bharat Forge, Pune, L3 is from SAIL.

Further, the successful bidder is to set up the manufacturing facility within 36 months from the award date and to supply the wheels of various types @80,000 per annum. To consider the learning curve and economies of volume, the price applicable will be reduced by 2% every year upto 3 years and the 4th year onwards the applicable price will be 94% of the quoted price which is valid for the balance period of 20 years. The pre-determined price variation clause is applicable for the price on quarterly basis, the statement added.

It is pertinent to note that presently, SAIL is supplying at an average rate of Rs.1,87,000 per tonne. Existing Domestic Capacity is SAIL - 40,000 wheels, RINL- 80,000 wheels (yet to start regular commercial production)- Total- 1,20,000.

Indian Railways has been importing various types of forged wheels required for locomotives and coaching stock (LHB) since the 1960s from the UK, Czech Republic, Brazil, Rom, Japan, China, Ukraine and Russia.

In this year (2022-23), 80,000 wheels worth approx. 520 Crore are imported from China & Russia, with the remaining 40,000 being sourced from SAIL. Currently, due to Russia-Ukraine Crisis, all the import requirement of wheels is being met from China. The requirement of wheels is projected to increase upto 2 lac by 2026 onwards due to the induction of more and more high-speed trains.