Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited (RINL) is getting ready to commission a forged wheel plant near Rail Coach Factory at Lalgunj in Rae Bareli area of Uttar Pradesh by September-end.
As part of its production diversification, RINL — the corporate entity of Visakhapatnam Steel Plant — had launched work on the project as a joint venture with Indian Railways in 2016. The total cost of the project is ₹1,682.85 crore.
“Work is going on in full swing and we are moving towards rolling out forged wheels by September-end,” RINL Chairman-cum-Managing Director P.K. Rath told The Hindu . The electric sub-station was inaugurated recently by Mr. Rath.
The raw material for the Lalgunj plant — 380 to 430 rounds — will be supplied from VSP. It will be transported by train. RINL was allotted 50 acres to set up the facility. The plant has a capacity to produce one lakh high-speed wheels initially with a provision to increase it to two lakh wheels per annum. The plant has state-of-the-art technology of forging, rolling, heat treatment, machining and testing. As per the agreement with the Railways, there will be an assured off-take of 55,000 wheels initially, which will go up with time.
Rich land bank
RINL, which has a rich land bank in the city, is taking various steps for capacity augmentation and diversification. It has increased its production capacity from 6.3 to 7.3 million tonnes by using pulverised chemical injection technology on the blast furnaces and undertaking capital repairs at a cost of ₹4,000 crore. The CPSE clocked a turnover of ₹20,844 crore in 2018-19.
