The Indian government owned and operated rail network plans to invest $12 billion over the next three years on renewing and expanding rail tracks providing significant demand for steel, an official at Indian Railways said on Tuesday, May 17.
The official said that Indian Railways is aiming to increase the rate of laying new tracks to 19 km per day, over the next three years, from about 8 km per day at present and this will trigger a significant demand boost for domestic steel mills.
At the same time, Indian Railways is also considering replacing its existing freight wagons with high grade stainless steel freight wagons which will also boost steel demand for domestic producers.
Indian Railways’ planned investments on track renewal and expansion will have a major impact on Indian steelmaker SAIL’s Bhilai Steel Plant (BSP) which last month commenced trial production at its new 1.2 million mt per year universal rail mill, the official added.