West Bengal-based public sector wagon makers, Burn Standard and Braithwaite & Company, are attempting to make the best of the lifeline thrown to them by the Railways, after the Mamata Banerjee-led ministry hauled them out of the Heavy Industries ministry earlier this year.
Administrative control of both the firms, earlier part of Bharat Bhari Udyog Nigam Ltd (BBUNL), was transferred to the Railways in June this year, entailing a waiver of Burn Standard's liabilities amounting to about Rs 1139.16 crore, apart from other sops.
On their part, though, the companies have started work on the orders for about 1250 wagons that have been placed with them by the Railways, subsequently to their transfer.
Officials of Burn Standard and Braithwaite told Business Standard that substantial progress has been made on the prototypes for these wagons, and that these would be shortly presented before the Research Designs and Standards Organisation (RDSO) — the Railways' wing for designs, standards and specifications — for attestation.
“We have an order for about 750 wagons. The prototypes are almost ready and will soon be sent to RDSO. After their clearance, it will be followed by mass production,” a highly-placed official from Braithwaite said.
The official explained that the company has existing infrastructure to build between 1200-1600 wagons annually, which can be raised to about 2000 units with limited upgrade.
“The direct interaction with the Railways has helped us immensely. We are likely to receive about Rs 20 crore from the ministry to develop infrastructure. We are working on a plan, and will submit it shortly,” the official added.
At Burn Standard, “work has started on the orders, and the process of approvals for the prototypes is on. The orders should be well underway by March,” an official said.
Here, too, the Railways is likely to provide an infrastructure upgrade fund of about Rs 30 crore, for which proposals are being prepared, the official added.
Meanwhile, the Railways has resolved the long-standing issue of wage revisions at both the firms. At Braithwaite, the wage revision of between Rs 3,500-4,000 per month will benefit about 350 employees, while about 900 employees of Burn Standard will profit from the move.
Burn Standard and Braithwaite have a combined employee strength of 1,877.
