Railways facing shortage of 40,000 wheels annually

New Delhi, May 18 (UNI) Indian Railways is facing a shortfall of 40,000 wheels annually, which is being met through imports.

The total annual requirement of wheels of the Railways is around 2,40,000 while the combined manufacturing capacity of the two indigenous sources -- Rail Wheel Factory, Bangalore and Steel Authority of India Limited (Durgapur Steel Plant) -- is about 2,00,000 wheels.

''The shortfall of 40,000 wheels is being met through imports,'' a ministry official said.

''Wheels for high horse power engines and high-speed coaches, which are currently required in small numbers, are also imported since economies of scale do not permit indigenous production,'' he said.

The official said the reasons for import of wheels were largely shortage of capacity and requirement of special type of wheels.

About a new wheel manufacturing factory in Chapra (Bihar), the parliamentary constituency of Railway Minister Lalu Prasad, he said the project was planned to be completed by January 2010.

''This will greatly supplement the production capacity available in the country from Rail Wheel Factory, Bangalore and Durgapur Steel Plant,'' the official said, adding that indigenous development of special type of wheels had also been taken up and their production will be concurrent with the growth in volumes.

He also said the Railways was considering to reduce the weight of coaches to improve their efficiency.

A new design of light weight coaches was acquired under transfer of technology agreement with Linke Hoffman Busch (LHB) and about 400 such coaches had already been manufactured indigenously at Rail Coach Factory, Kapurthala.

These coaches are lighter than the existing Integral Coach Factory (ICF)-designed coaches. In addition, they have higher carrying capacity of about 10-12 per cent as compared to the ICF coaches and earn more revenue at lesser hauling cost.

The weight of a First Class AC coach, designed by the ICF, in Rajdhani and Shatabdi trains is 46.2 tonnes and has a seating capacity of 18 passengers. Compared to it, an LHB coach weighs 43.3 tonnes and can seat 24 passengers.

In case of pantry cars also, the weight designed by ICF and LHB is 47.9 tonnes and 40.8 tonnes respectively.

UNI