SAIL Bags Rs 650 Crore Rail Supply Contracts

The projects are financed by Asian Development Bank and RVNL being the nodal agency for the project and floated the global tenders to purchase rails as per the guidelines of the bank. 
RVNL is a special purpose vehicle created by the Government in 2003 for development and implementation of projects pertaining to strengthening of the Golden Quadrilateral and port connectivity. These contracts are major thrust for the company as steel sector is reeling under low demand and slackening prices. 

As per the contracts SAIL will supply 106,600 tonne of UIC 60 kg/m rails and an additional 10,740 tonne of IRS 52 kg/m rails to RVNL for four railway line projects connecting Hospet-Tinaighat, Sambalpur-Titlagarh, Daund-Gulbarga and Titlagarh-Raipur. These high quality rails will be supplied within a period of 18 months. SAIL is supplying around 7 lakh tonne of rails annually and remained its sole supplier of rails. Company’s Bhilai steel plant currently produces long rails as per international standards. 
 
As per the media release the company is gearing up to meet all future requirements of the railways, including head-hardened rails, as part of its ongoing Rs17,265 crore modernisation & expansion programme. More importantly company is the sole supplier of 260-metre-long rail panels to railways. After completion of this programme, 1.2 million tonne new capacity will be created and SAIL will be able to produce longest single-piece rails in India. The new Rail Welding Mill at the Bhilai plant can produce 260 metre long rail but this can be stretched to produce 520 meter long rail in the coming days.