Railways to go ahead with global tender

On an average, SAIL's Bhilai Steel Plant supplies about 700,000-800,000 tonnes of rail to the national Railways

The Indian Railways has decided to go ahead with its global tender for rails despite stiff opposition from the steel ministry, which had flagged the government’s policy of giving preference to domestic manufactured iron and steel for government procurement.

“We are going ahead with the ongoing tender according to the plan,” said a senior Railways official, who added that there were no plans to tweak the terms of the existing tender either.

The Indian Railways has set a target of 3,500 kilometres (kms) for track renewal at a cost of Rs 10,153 crore for 2017-18, which has now been increased