Indian state-owned transporter Indian Railways (IR) will float a global tender seeking supplies of 200,000 mt of steel rails, a government official said on Monday, August 6.
The official said that this will be close on the heels of a global tender for 100,000 mt of rails just concluded, which was won by Jindal Steel and Power Limited (JSPL), the first domestic private sector steel company to supply rails to IR.
JSPL won the rail order in competition with global majors like Sumitomo Corporation, Angang Group International, CRM Hong Kong, Voestalpine and British Steel France Rail.
According to the official, a fresh global tender for supply of steel rails is necessary in view of IR having increased its target for renewing tracks to 4,400 km in the current year against previous average track renewal of 2,500 km per year.
Until recently, government-run Steel Authority of India Limited’s Bhilai Steel Plant (BSP) has been the sole supplier of steel rails to IR.