Indian steel producer Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL) has supplied 4,300 mt of high-grade special steel for a domestic manufacturer of two Indian navy warships, a company official said on Wednesday, May 18.
The entire volume of the special steel for the navy was supplied by SAIL’s Rourkela and Bhilai steel mills, the official said.
At the same time, SAIL has finalized an agreement with national transporter Indian Railways for supply of 250,000 units of steel wheels over the next three years, for 400 high-speed trains.
SAIL’s Durgapur steel mill has already supplied 45,000 forged wheels for Indian Railways’ Linke Hoffman Busch (LHB) coaches, the design of which has been approved for use in the railways’ new high-speed trains, the official said.
It may be noted that supplies of forged wheel sets have been severely disrupted after an order of 36,000 wheel sets valued at $16 million placed with a Ukraine-based company was thrown into disarray following Russia’s invasion of the country.
Plans are afoot to explore the possibilities of airlifting the wheels manufactured by the Ukrainian company through neighboring Romania, sources said.