PATNA: Work on the wheel factory at Belapur, Chhapra, is going on in full swing. Railways has set the target for kicking off production in the factory sometime in October this year. The trial production will start in June/ July. It will be the first major railway factory to be made functional in Bihar at an estimated cost of Rs 1417.23 crore.
The wheel factory, which will be the second such railway factory 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 per year fulfilling the needs of the entire eastern and northern regions of the country. The manufacture of wheels will be based on US Griffin technology, according to East Central Railway (ECR) CPRO Dilip Kumar.
At present, wheels are being manufactured at the railway’s Bangalore factory and the heavy industries ministry’s factory at Durgapur in West Bengal. Railways has been importing wheels for locomotives from other countries at a cost of about Rs 3 to Rs 4 lakh each, sources said adding the proposed wheel factory would save huge foreign exchange being spent on importing wheels.
The factory has a sanctioned strength of about 900 staff, including officials. 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.
According to ECR CPRO, railways has almost completed installation of plants and machinery at Belapur under the supervision of technical experts of railways. Larsen and Toubro Limited has been awarded the work of installation of plants and completion of other civil work on a priority basis, he said and added the wheel factory will prove to be an asset for Indian Railways.
He said while supervisory staff have already joined the Belapur-based factory, more employees required for the factory are likely to join in a month. Railways intends to complete building of staff quarters soon for providing accommodation to its employees and officers on the sprawling wheel factory campus, he said.
The Railways has acquired over 138 acres of land for the ambitious project. This includes 52 acres for the factory, 35 acres for rail siding (additional lines for storing manufactured wheels) and 51.76 acres for constructing railway colony for its officers and employees, the CPRO said.
Besides, railways would build a hospital, Kendriya Vidyalaya, community hall, shopping centre and staff canteen on the factory campus for the convenience of employees and their family members.
According to sources, the railways would require at least one lakh wheels every year from the current fiscal itself. The opening of new freight corridors (eastern and western) would also require more wheels. Since railways has decided to run more goods trains across the country to carry freight, more wheels would be required for the goods trains in future, sources said