The Hindu Business Line : Rlys finalises order for 9,000 wagons

Indian Railways has finalised its highest ever order for supply of about 9,000 wagons. Wagon manufacturing companies in the country would be getting a total of Rs 316 crore for supplying these wagons, which is primarily the fabrication cost.

The stated cost excludes the cost of steel, wheels, axles and bogies, as Railways would provide these inputs to wagon manufacturers as free supply items.

While four public sector units have received orders for about 2,338 wagons, six private wagon manufacturers have bagged orders for 6,660 wagons.

With the inclusion of supply items, cost per wagon for Railways is estimated to be about Rs 16-17 lakh on an average.

Railways acquires the input materials for supply since it is able to buy them at relatively lower costs driven by high volumes. "If we let individual wagon firms buy these input items, the cost of wagon is likely to go up," said official sources.

The public sector units include Burn Standard, Braithwaite, Bharat Wagon, and Bridge and Roof. The private sector companies include Texmaco, Hindustan Engineering Industries (HEI), Modern, Besco, Titagarh and Jessop.

Order break-up

Burn Standard is likely to receive an order for about 980 wagons, Braithwaite would have to supply 609 wagons followed by Bharat Wagons, which has to supply 431 wagons and Bridge and Roof 159 wagons.

In the private sector, Besco has bagged the highest order for supplying 1,520 wagons, while Texmaco has to supply 1,354 wagons, followed by Titagarh (1,134), HEI (1,121), Modern (1,033) and Jessop (657).

"The Railway Minister, Mr Lalu Prasad, has recently approved the order. The letters for placing orders would be issued very soon," said official sources adding that the delivery is expected to start within a few months.

Railways is trying to get physical delivery of 10,200 wagons in the current financial year, which, it expects, would be met by a mix of its outstanding orders and present order. From the above-targeted delivery, 1,606 wagons have already been delivered in the first quarter ending June 30 of 2006-07 fiscal.