The development comes close on the heels of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s recent visit to kyiv, where he met his counterpart President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. “Another 3,500 forged wheels are on the way from Ukraine“Earlier this year, orders for 10,000 forged wheels worth Rs 72 crore were placed with the Swiss company,” the official told ET.
These wheels are manufactured in Dnipro (Ukraine) by Interpipe Groupa global producer of steel tubes and railway wheels. The wheels are for open bogie wagons with air brakes (BOXN wagons), which are mainly used to transport goods such as coal, and are loaded from a Ukrainian port on the Black Sea.
“While the order size is small, this move opens up an opportunity for India to diversify its import sources again, while domestic wheel manufacturing picks up,” a second official said.
Indian Railways last awarded a Purchase of wheels In March 2021, KLW Wheelco received an order for 36,000 units worth Rs 116 crore. However, due to the war in Ukraine, the railways had to rely on China for the supply of wheels.
The Railway Board placed an order for procurement of 40,000 forged wheels from Hong Kong-based TZ (Taizhong) for Rs 279 crore earlier this year. These wheels will be manufactured in China by Taiyuan Heavy Industry Railway Transit Equipments Company in Shanxi. Indian Railways has been importing forged wheels since the 1960s from the UK, Czech Republic, Brazil, Romania, Japan, China, Ukraine and Russia. In all, the railways needs to import around 80,000 wheels worth Rs 520 crore annually. Another 40,000 wheels are being procured from the Steel Authority of India Ltd. According to official estimates, India’s requirement for wheels would reach 200,000 units annually by 2026 due to the introduction of faster trains.
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