Three major players — SAIL, Bharat Forge and Ramkrishna Forgings in partnership with Titagarh — have put their bids for manufacturing 80,000 forged wheels annually for semi-high speed and modern trains, which is aimed at reducing India’s import dependence on countries such as China and European nations.
Forged wheels are specially-designed wheels, built at high-pressure for trains running at higher speeds than regular Indian Railways trains.
Last September, railway minister Ashwini Vaishnaw had announced the floating of a tender inviting only Indian players to set up a manufacturing facility to produce these wheels. Officials three bidders have submitted their tenders and these are being examined.
The successful bidder will set up a production unit for forged wheels at an estimated cost of Rs 1,000 crore. The railways has given assurance to buy a certain quantity of the wheels manufactured by the successful entity. The manufacturer will be allowed to export its production as well after catering the demand of Indian Railways.
The crisis of wheels hit the railways during the Russia-Ukraine war and the railways had to place an order for 39,000 semi-forged wheels with a Chinese company.
According to the e-bid, a total of 15.4 lakh wheels would be manufactured and supplied. About 50% of the requirement for different types of wheels would be for LHB coaches, 40% for locomotives, 7% for EMU and MEMU trains, and 3% for Vande Bharat trains.
The manufacturer will provide 40,000 wheels during the first year of supply, 60,000 wheels during the second year of supply, and 80,000 wheels per year during each of the subsequent years.
