Forged wheel import holdup: Railways asks SAIL to boost output amid crisis

Steelmaker expects to meet 87% of orders; moves towards Vande Bharat wheels

Amid a Red Sea-induced temporary crisis of imported forged wheels, the Ministry of Railways has asked Steel Authority of India (SAIL) to streamline its rolling stock manufacturing operations and prioritise meeting its delivery commitments following the April-June quarter (Q1) of 2024-25 (FY25), according to senior officials. “The delivery of wheels from SAIL has been falling short. Around mid-June, SAIL was informed the supply for Q1FY25 was only 64 per cent of the target,” a senior government official said.

Critical deliveries like WAP-5 locomotive wheels and Integral Coach Factory (ICF) axles have also been behind schedule despite reminders in previous quarters, the official added.
 

The model name WAP-5 stands for broad gauge (W), alternating current (A), passenger traffic (P) locomotive, and 5th generation (5). In March, SAIL committed to supplying 700 coaching axles and 500 WAP-5 wheels to the railways in Q1FY25. “As far as current supplies are concerned, SAIL is likely to supply around 87 per cent of the total effective orders of various types of wheels received from the Indian Railways during April-June 2024. During the current quarter, the total supplies of wheels to the Indian Railways by SAIL is likely to be 11,700 wheels compared to 9,597 during April-June 2023 and 11,301 during January-March 2024,” a spokesperson for SAIL told Business Standard.
 

The steelmaker explained that due to the commissioning of a new non-destructive testing machine at the Wheel & Axle Plant at SAIL Durgapur Steel Plant (DSP) in June this year, testing was temporarily affected.
 

The Wheel & Axle Plant at DSP is a dedicated SAIL facility for its supplies to Indian Railways. The public steelmaker has been supplying forged wheels to the national transporter for over six decades and was previously the only manufacturer of forged wheels in the country.
 

At a meeting in mid-June, the steelmaker informed the Ministry of Railways that it would improve its supply in the remainder of the month to consolidate its Q1 supply numbers. In the July-September quarter (Q2), it would increase the dispatch of critical items like WAP-5 locomotive wheels and ICF axles. Queries sent to the Ministry of Railways remained unanswered until the time of going to press.
 

There has been a global shortage of shipping containers due to the impact of the Red Sea crisis on Asian ports, causing widespread congestion and a sizeable rise in shipping/container prices during June, which is expected to continue into July. This may delay the supply of imported wheels, many of which are currently brought in from China. 
 

Only critical quantities of wheels required at a minimum scale will be diverted to railways from the consignment already dispatched, this paper reported last Friday. Forged wheels are used in Vande Bharat trains and high-speed locomotives.

Among other rolling stock, and a domestic shortage of forged and semi-forged wheels prompted the government to import Vande Bharat wheels from China in 2022. Following that, the Centre has been pushing extensively to indigenise the manufacturing of these wheels.
 

SAIL said that it is currently in the process of developing Vande Bharat wheels.
 

“In the context of Linke-Hofmann-Busch (LHB) wheels, SAIL started the supply of LHB wheels in December 2019. As the LHB wheel is a safety item, SAIL invested in setting up a new ultrasound testing machine for full-body testing of each LHB wheel. This machine is under commissioning and is likely to stabilise shortly. Once this machine is stabilised, SAIL should be able to supply LHB wheels in line with allocation by the Railway Board,” the steelmaker said.
 

The railways estimate their requirement of forged wheels to be around 13,600 in Q2FY25, compared to more than 25,000 during the same period last year.

Carrying weight

13,000: Forged wheels Railways needs in July-September

2-month: Supply disruption due to unavailability of shipping containers

87%: Effective orders SAIL is likely to meet in April-June 2024

SAIL, which  has been supplying forged wheels to the national transporter for six decades, says commissioning of new works at Durgapur Steel Plant caused temporary lag in supply