Indian casting and forgings companies Bharat Forge Limited and Ramkrishna Forgings Limited in collaboration with railway wagon manufacturer Titagarh Wagons Limited and state-run Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL) have submitted bids to set up steel forged wheel manufacturing units on behalf of national transporter Indian Railways (IR), government sources said on Friday, January 27.
The sources said that the companies had submitted bids in response to IR’s expression of interest seeking companies to set up a plant for the manufacture of 80,000 forged steel wheels per year for use as assembly sets in high-speed trains and to reduce dependency on imports from China.
As per the terms and conditions of IR, the successful bidder will need to invest an estimated $124 million in the construction of the steel forged wheel plants with IR offering a minimum guaranteed off-take of production every year and the producer having the freedom to export the balance of its output if any, the sources said.
IR has laid down that in the first year the plant will need to supply 40,000 units of forged wheels, 60,000 units in the second year, and 80,000 units from the third year onwards.