Bangalore: Rail Wheel Factory, the in-house wheel maker for Indian Railways, proposes to augment its capacity in a bid to cut down the Railways dependence on imports for its wheel requirements, a senior official has said.

"We will shortly submit a proposal to the Railway Board for capacity expansion," said Sudha Chobe, General Manager, Rail Wheel Factory, located at Yelahanka here.

The proposal is to hike capacity at the Rail Wheel Factory for making an additional 50,000 wheels per annum to the existing capacity of about 1.10 lakh wheels per annum entailing a cost of Rs. 100 crores.

Indian Railways required 2.10 lakh wheels per annum and half of this was met by the Rail Wheel Factory.

The balance was met through supplies from the Durgapur Steel Plant of Steel Authority of India Ltd. (SAIL) of about 50,000 wheels per annum as well as through imports. The capacity crunch was expected to continue as the demand rises, Ms. Chobe said.

Together with the capacity expansion, the plan to open a new wheel plant at Chapra in Bihar were expected to cut the Railways dependence on imported wheels and even made exports a possibility, she said.

"We still have our limitations and are unable to meet the domestic demand and even today Railways is importing wheels," she said.

Targets

The Rail Wheel Factory has been operating at full capacity, surpassing the annual targets set by the Railway Ministry every year.

During April-October this year, the plant manufactured 77,831 wheels surpassing the target of 75,607, the highest ever in the plant's history.

The Rail Wheel Factory was willing to share its know-how for the development of the proposed wheel plant at Chapra, she said. "The Chapra plant will almost be a prototype of the Bangalore plant, using similar technology, including using railway scrap as raw material," Ms. Chobe said.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail