Indian state-owned steelmaker Steel Authority of India Limited’s (SAIL) Durgapur Steel Plant (DSP) has delivered its maiden consignment to national transporter Indian Railways (IR) of forged wheels specifically designed to be fitted to Linke Hofman Busch (LHB) passenger coaches, a SAIL official said on Friday, March 29.
The official said SAIL had received the first lot order for supply of 1,000 wheels for LHB coaches and these wheels were specifically web-designed and had metallurgical properties suited for the high-speed movement of LBH coaches on the broad gauge rail links of IR.
DSP had manufactured the wheels as per specifications and standards approved by Indian Railways Standards and Design Organization (RDSO), and SAIL was aiming to ramp up production at its wheel and axle plant at DSP so that the entire demand of wheels for the LHB coaches of IR could be met domestically and replace current imports, the official said.
During the 2017-18 fiscal year, IR passenger coach manufacturing units produced 5,500 LHB coaches, the highest volume since the high-tech coaches were introduced.