Rail Wheel Factory to raise capacity

Bags export order from Egypt.

Rail Wheel Factory (RWF) (formerly known as Wheel and Axle Plant), a unit of Indian Railways, is to spend Rs 270 crore over two years to implement an expansion plan to meet growing demand.

The company, which has already invested Rs 170 crore over the last two years, will complete the expansion during the financial year 2008-09.

"This will help us meet the growing demand for wheelsets and axles from the Indian Railways. The Indian Railways will require 300,000 wheels in the next two to three years. While we will supply 200,000 wheels in 2008-09, the remaining 100,000 wheels will be supplied by a new factory being set up at Chhapra in Bihar, which will commence production in the next two years," B B Modgil, General Manager, RWF said.

He said the company is presently producing 115,000 wheels and 50,000 axles and 45,000 wheelsets.

Once the expansion is complete, RWF will produce 200,000 wheels and 75,000 axles. During the next fiscal another Rs 270 crore will be spent to enhance capacity. With this expansion, RWF, Bangalore will help Indian Railways reduce dependence on imports further.

Presently, Indian Railways imports 5 per cent of its requirements at Rs 2.50 lakh per wheelset compared to Rs 95,000 per wheelset made by RWF. With capacity expansion at RWF, the Railways will be able to stop imports completely, Modgil said.

"After meeting the demands of the Indian Railways, we will export the surplus stock. We have been receiving a number of export enquiries from various countries. But at present, we are not in a position to meet them," he said.

Till a few years ago, RWF was exporting wheels to the United States and following domestic demand stopped exports. Modgil said RWF is presently in the process of meeting an export order from Egypt. "The government of Egypt has asked us to supply them 2,000 units of wheels. We have asked them to give their design specifications and wheel dimensions. We hope to meet their requirements in 2008-09," Modgil said.

RWF, which reported a turnover of Rs 501 crore in 2006-07, is likely to register a growth of 10 per cent in the current financial year.

Modgil said the company is also gearing up to supply higher capacity wheelsets to the Indian Railways, which is planning to increase the payload of freight wagons to 55-60 tonnes as part of the new Freight Corridors being introduced in the country. Presently, the payload of wagons is 45-50 tonnes.

"The Railways have asked us to manufacture high capacity wheelsets and we are ready with new wheelsets. We have already produced them and got them validated by the Transportation Technology Centre Inc, USA, which certifies the standards for Railways globally," Modgil said.