Indian state-run transporter Indian Railways (IR) has asked private sector manufacturers to design, develop and produce specialized railway wagons for transportation of steel coils, a government official said on Monday, February 25.
The official said that conventional wagons used by IR for steel coil freight were resulting in damage to wagons and hence the need to design, develop and produce specialized wagons, the task of which has been entrusted to existing railway wagon manufacturers in the private sector.
These manufacturers will need to submit the designs for such prototype steel coil-carrying wagons to IR’s Railway Design and Standards Organization (RDSO) for approval and ratification of design and specification, following which each manufacturer will be able to begin setting up production lines.
It has also been communicated to such interested private sector wagon manufacturers that, while current conventional wagons have carrying capacity of 3,000 metric tons of steel coil, the new generation wagons will need to have an increased carrying capacity of 4,000 metric tons.
It has been projected that IR will need to acquire around 10,000 such specialized wagons a year to be able to progressively phase out existing conventional wagons used for steel freight, the official added.