A New Forged Wheel Factory at Rae Bareli, UP

An agreement to set up the India’s largest Forged Wheel Plant at Lalganj, Raebareli, in Uttar Pradesh was signed in the presence of the Minister of Steel, Shri Beni Prasad Verma and the Rail Minister, Shri Mallikarjun Kharge today. Shri Verma speaking on the occasion said that setting up of this plant nearer to the already commissioned Rail Coach Factory, will give it an advantage in terms of location and would also help in industrial development of Uttar Pradesh. He hoped that the project will be completed in a short time by constitution of a task force for its speedy execution.

The Railway Minister Shri Mallikarjun Kharge said that the forged wheels are essentially required in the rolling stock for running longer trains at higher speed. He said imports substitution, indigenous development and inclusive growth is the driving force for setting up this project through mutual coordination between Ministry of Railways and Ministry of Steel.

Speaking on the occasion, Shri Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, Minister of State for Railways said that both ministries share a symbiotic relationship as steel is very important component for Railways. He said that railways in making efforts to attract private investment in its infrastructure projects and has kept a target of Rs. 1 lakh crore of private investment in Railways during 12th Plan.

Sri AP Choudhary, CMD, Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited (RINL) while welcoming the dignitaries mentioned that the process of order placement for setting up the plant is in an advance stage. The quality of wheel manufactured in the plant will be tested and certified by International certifying agency “TTCI”, USA.

Agreements for ‘Assured Off-take’ of the produced forged wheels and leasing of 40 acres of land adjacent to the Rail Coach Factory were signed by official representatives of RINL and Indian Railways. The Plant to be set with an investment of about Rs. 1100 crores will produce one (1)lakh numbers of Forged Wheels per annum in the First phase for ‘Locos and High speed trains’. The Factory expected to be operational in over three years, could provide employment to about 600 people. The capacity of the plant can be doubled in the Second phase for a production of over 2 lakh wheels per annum.

Sri G Mohan Kumar, Secretary (Steel) and Sri Arunendra Kumar, Chairman Railway Board also spoke on the national significance of import substitution project. Members of the Railway Board, senior officials of Ministry of Steel & Ministry of Railways, Directors of RINL were also present during the signing of the Agreements.

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