Rlys to float global tender to address paucity of rails

A month after private steel maker JSPL bagged 20 per cent of the Rs 2,500 crore global tender by the Indian Railways to supply long rails, a senior official of the national transporter said the ministry will soon issue a similar tender for the rest of its requirement.

Indian Railways had invited the global tender for procuring around 4.87 lakh metric tonnes of rails to meet the shortfall of supply from the Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL). This is the first time in three decades that rail procurement has been opened for the private sector.

"While JSPL has been given 20 per cent, we will re-tender for the rest of our requirement. Since SAIL has also increased its production, we will need to analyse the quantum of the tender based on the how much of our requirement is met by them," the official said.

Seven foreign steel companies and JSPL had submitted their bids for the global tender. JSPL was the only Indian steel maker in the fray, and was expected to get an assured order of 20 per cent under the 'Make in India' clause.

JSPL is the only private company that produces rails in India. It was already supplying rails to various countries like Iran and Bangladesh.

"JSPL has already sent out its first consignment of rails to us on August 15 and it will now undergo trials," the official added.

Sources said the bids made by the other companies did not meet the ministry's requirements.

The foreign entities which had submitted their bids included Sumitomo Corporation, Angang Group International, Voestalpine Schienen, East Metals, CRM Hong Kong, British Steel France Rail and Atlantic Steel.

Till now, the Indian Railways was procuring rails from government-owned SAIL. It decided on an extra global tender after anticipating that SAIL would not be able to supply the 7,17,000 tonnes required for 2017-18 and 2018-19, as estimated at that time.

The national transporter is looking at 4,000 km of track renewal in each of the next two financial years, 2018-19 and 2019-20. Its estimated cost for 2018-19 is a little above Rs 10,000 crore.