Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited (RINL) which runs the Vizag Steel Plant (VSP), said it has produced the first forged wheel from its new plant at Lalganj, Rae Bareily, Uttar Pradesh. This followed the successful conduct of hot trials of the forging line of the plant yesterday (Sunday, 9th February 2020).
P K Rath, chairman RINL and other senior officials including KK Ghosh Director(Projects), DK Mohanty, Director(Commercial) and AK Saxena, Director(Operations) of RINL along with Laxmi Raman, ED Railway Board, were among others who witnessed the event.
The steel major has set up the forged wheel plant at a cost of Rs 1,680 crore. The plant will have production capacity of 1,00,000 high speed wheels per annum. The plant will supply wheels to the Indian Railways in a move that will and lead to import substitution. The raw material for the Lalgunj plant is supplied from VSP by train.
As per the agreement with the Railways, there will be an assured off-take of 55,000 wheels initially, which is expected to go up with time.