Railways may need 1.7 mn tonne rails in FY20, SAIL to supply 1.35 mn tonne

Indian Railways will require around 1.7 million tonne of rails in the current financial year and steel PSU SAIL has committed to supply 1.35 million tonne, Parliament was informed Monday.

In a reply to a question in Lok Sabha, Steel Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said for 2019-20, Railways has indicated a requirement of around 1.7 million tonne of rails for track renewal and capacity augmentation.

Against this demand, SAIL has committed to supply 1.35 million tonne, he added.

SAIL, under the steel ministry, is the country's largest steel making company and as per an agreement, it supplies rails to Indian Railways from its Bhilai Steel Plant in Chhattisgarh.

Pradhan further said as part of the modernisation and expansion plan of SAIL, a 1.2 MTPA universal rail mill has been installed at Bhilai plant to enhance the manufacturing capabilities of rails to cope with the increasing demand of Railways.

SAIL has been supplying less rails against the order placed by the Railways for the last four financial years.

In 2018-19, SAIL supplied 9.68 LT rails as against the demand of 1.4 million tonne. In the previous year, the PSU supplied 874,000 tonne as against the demand of 1.14 million tonne.

During 2016-17, SAIL supplied 6.20 LT as against the requirement of 10.05 LT. In the preceding fiscal, the steel maker supplied 646,000 tonne against the order of 812,000 tonne.