NEW DELHI: The railway ministry has set the December 2022 target to achieve 100% indigenous manufacturing of all rail coaches by ending dependence on imports from countries, including China.
Currently the Linke Hofmann Busch (LHB) coaches, being manufactured by Indian Railways’ production unit – Integral Coach Factory, Rail Coach Factory and Modern Coach Factory – are completely indigenous except for the wheels and axles. At present, wheel discs and semi-finished axles are imported from China for the LHB coaches.
Sources said in recent years the Indian Railways’ import component of manufacturing parts have reduced steadily and now it’s around 1.6% of total value of items. They said efforts have been undertaken to reduce this share of imports further and some of the last few remaining items like wheels and axles are now going to be fully manufactured in India.
In 2020-21, Indian Railways imported 60,000 LHB wheels, which is a 100% annual requirement of LHB wheels by the railways. About 4,000 axles, which constitute around 18% of Indian Railways annual requirement, were imported.
The LHB coaches use forged wheels. Axles of all the rolling stock are forged and wheels were imported because they were not manufactured here and axles were imported because of capacity constraints.
“Steps have been taken to indigenize forged wheel manufacturing through SAIL, Durgapur and Forged Wheel Plant of RINL being set up at Raebareli. Indian Railways have entered into an assured off-take contract with the Forged Wheel Plant of RINL for 80,000 wheels per annum that encouraged them to set up this plant. It is scheduled for commissioning shortly,” said an official.
SAIL, Durgapur, which was primarily manufacturing wheels for locomotives, has started manufacturing LHB wheels too, the official said. “They have manufactured and delivered about 400 wheels that are on trial. It has a capacity to manufacture about 60,000 forged wheels of all types. Thus, with these steps a capacity of 1.1 lakh LHB wheels shall be available in India and this will be more than the annual requirement of LHB coaches,” he added.
Currently the Linke Hofmann Busch (LHB) coaches, being manufactured by Indian Railways’ production unit – Integral Coach Factory, Rail Coach Factory and Modern Coach Factory – are completely indigenous except for the wheels and axles. At present, wheel discs and semi-finished axles are imported from China for the LHB coaches.
Sources said in recent years the Indian Railways’ import component of manufacturing parts have reduced steadily and now it’s around 1.6% of total value of items. They said efforts have been undertaken to reduce this share of imports further and some of the last few remaining items like wheels and axles are now going to be fully manufactured in India.
In 2020-21, Indian Railways imported 60,000 LHB wheels, which is a 100% annual requirement of LHB wheels by the railways. About 4,000 axles, which constitute around 18% of Indian Railways annual requirement, were imported.
The LHB coaches use forged wheels. Axles of all the rolling stock are forged and wheels were imported because they were not manufactured here and axles were imported because of capacity constraints.
“Steps have been taken to indigenize forged wheel manufacturing through SAIL, Durgapur and Forged Wheel Plant of RINL being set up at Raebareli. Indian Railways have entered into an assured off-take contract with the Forged Wheel Plant of RINL for 80,000 wheels per annum that encouraged them to set up this plant. It is scheduled for commissioning shortly,” said an official.
SAIL, Durgapur, which was primarily manufacturing wheels for locomotives, has started manufacturing LHB wheels too, the official said. “They have manufactured and delivered about 400 wheels that are on trial. It has a capacity to manufacture about 60,000 forged wheels of all types. Thus, with these steps a capacity of 1.1 lakh LHB wheels shall be available in India and this will be more than the annual requirement of LHB coaches,” he added.
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