PATNA: Work on the wheel factory at Belapur near Chhapra is going on in full swing. The railways has set the target for kicking off production in the factory this year itself. Trial production would take place in July this year. The wheel factory would be the first major factory to be made functional in Bihar at an estimated cost of Rs 1,417.23 crore.
According to ECR CPRO Dilip Kumar, the railways has almost completed installation of plants and machinery at Belapur. Though the work has been awarded to a private firm to carry out installation of plants and other civil work, a team of railway engineers has been directly supervising the progress of the factory work, he said, adding the wheel factory will prove to be an asset for the Indian Railways in future , he said.
The CPRO said that the railways has acquired about 139 acres of land for this ambitious project. The railways has acquired 52 acres for the factory, 35 acres for rail siding (additional lines for storage of manufactured wheels) and 51.76 acres for constructing railway colony for its employees. Work on the construction of railway colony at the site has been going on in full swing. Besides, the railways would build health unit , Kendriya Vidyalaya , Community Hall, shopping centre and staff canteen on the sprawling factory premises for the convenience of employees and their family members, he said.
The Belapur factory, which will the second in the country after the one in Bangalore, will have the capacity to produce about one lakh wheels of goods wagons, passenger coaches and locomotives annually fulfilling the needs of the entire eastern and northern regions of the country. These wheels are to be manufactured on the latest Griffin technology of US, the CPRO said.
According to Kumar, the railways would require at least one lakh wheels every year in the wake of sudden increase in the number of long-distance goods and passenger trains. The opening of new freight corridors ( eastern and western) would also require more wheels to keep pace with production of goods wagons. Since the railways has decided to run more goods trains across the country to carry more freight, more wheels would be required for the goods trains in future, he said.
At present, the railways has been producing three kinds of wheels — one for passenger coaches and two others for goods and locomotives (engines). Currently, the railways has been manufacturing wheels at the Bangalore factory and the heavy industries ministry s factory at Durgapur in West Bengal. The railways has been importing wheels for locomotives from other countries, each wheel costing about Rs 3 lakh, including cost of axles, sources said, adding the proposed wheel factory would save huge foreign currency being spent on importing wheels.
The East Central Railway ( ECR ) has been sending its wheels and axles to Bangalore for their periodical reconditioning which is mandatory from the safety point of view. The Belapur factory will fulfil the needs of ECR and other adjoining railways too, sources said.
The factory will have the strength of about 900 staff, including officials . Apart from job opportunities, it is likely to generate about Rs 180 crore business every year in the state giving a boost to socio-economic condition in the area, sources said.
Read more:Â Belapur wheel factory to start in July – The Times of India