Chennai: Indian Railways will require around 17 lakh tonne of rails in the current financial year and steel PSU SAIL has committed to supply 13.5 LT, the Parliament was informed.
In a reply to a question in Lok Sabha, Steel Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said for 2019-20, Railways has indicated a requirement of around 17 LT of rails for track renewal and capacity augmentation.
Against this demand, SAIL has committed to supply 13.5 LT, 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 fewer 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 14 LT. In the previous year, the PSU supplied 8.74 LT as against the demand of 11.45 LT.
During 2016-17, SAIL supplied 6.20 LT as against the requirement of 10.05 LT. In the preceding fiscal, the steelmaker supplied 6.46 LT against the order of 8.12 LT.