Indian Railways Invites Bids from Indian Companies to Manufacture High Speed Rail Wheels
Indian Railways has floated a tender for establishing a forged wheel plant that will manufacture wheels for different kinds of rolling stock of the Railways, including semi-high speed Vande Bharat trains. The tender, which has been floated on 9th September 2022, is open only to Indian companies and specifies a long-term supply period of 20 years to the Indian Rail.
This proposed plant will be producing at least 80,000 forged wheels annually. The Railways will acquire 80,000 forged wheels per year from this upcoming plant. The winner of this tender must meet this annual supply requirement before being able to sell forged wheels to any other client. The annual procurement amount will be about Rs. 600 crore for these 80,000 wheels. Last date to submit bids for this project is 15th December 2022.
Currently, the Indian Railways procures forged wheels from European countries like Ukraine, Germany and the Czech Republic. In May 2022 due to the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war, Indian Railways had to procure 39,000 forged wheels from a Chinese manufacturer.