Steel Authority of India Limited : Union Railways Minister visits SAIL's Bhilai Steel Plant
02/08/2012 | 11:34am
Universal Rail Mill coming up at Bhilai with investment
of Rs. 1600 cr.
New Delhi : Shri Dinesh Trivedi, Union Minister for Railways,
visited Bhilai Steel Plant of Steel Authority of India
Limited (SAIL) today. He was accompanied by Union Minister of
State for Railways Shri K.H. Muniyappa, Railway Board
Chairman Mr. Vinay Mittal, Member (Engg.) Mr. A.P. Mishra,
and other senior officials from the Indian Railways.
In his address to Bhilai employees, Shri Trivedi appreciated
the success of the long business relationship between the
Indian Railways and SAIL and acknowledged that it was being
strengthened further through the continuous initiatives being
taken by SAIL & Indian Railways to meet the growing
requirements of the Railways, both technical and volume-wise.
"SAIL plants like in Bhilai occupy pride of place in
India's industrial firmament and SAIL and Indian Railways
together are strengthening the foundations of the
country," he remarked. Shri Muniyappa complimented
Bhilai employees for their achievements and remarked that
SAIL and Indian Railways have to grow and progress together.
SAIL Chairman Mr. C.S.Verma stated that SAIL is proud to
contribute about 7% of the total freight business of the
Indian Railways in India, in both volume and monetary terms.
Describing Indian Railways as SAIL's "most important
customer", he added that "SAIL is already the sole
supplier of rails to the Indian Railways including long rails
of 260 metres. Till date SAIL has supplied more than 16
million tonnes of rails to the Railways, with a total rail
length of around 4 lakh kilometres, enough to encircle the
earth 9.5 times. The bond has been further strengthened with
collaborative efforts with IR, such as
* a JV with RITES to set up a wagon manufacturing unit at
Kulti in West Bengal to annually manufacture 1,200 wagons and
undertake rehabilitation of 300 wagons; and
* an MoU signed with BSCL and feasibility study completed for
setting up a wagon components manufacturing factory at
Jellingham, West Bengal on a JV basis.
SAIL is investing Rs. 1,600 crore in a new state-of-the-art
Universal Rail Mill of 1.2 million tonne capacity being set
up at Bhilai. The mill, which is likely to be operational by
next year, shall produce single 130-metre rails, with a
provision for welding them up to 520-metre lengths. Moreover,
the mill has been designed to produce heavier rail sections
up to 75 kg/m and head-hardened rails for the first time in
India.
Union Minister for Railways Shri Dinesh Trivedi (right) with
Union Minister of State for Railways Shri K.H. Muniyappa
(left) and SAIL Chairman Mr C.S. Verma (centre).
