Rlys to invest Rs 2,000 cr on steel coaches

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New Delhi, Sep 11: Indian railways plans to invest Rs 2,000 crore annually to increase its consumption of stainless steel to two lakhs tonne a year and get new coaches and wagons made up of the alloy.

“It was decided in a meeting few months ago that we willincrease our consumption of stainless steel to two lakh tonnes per annum which will entail an investment of Rs 2,000 crore every year,” railway ministry additional member (mechanical) Pramod Kumar Guptsaid.

“We are also talking to companies transportation companies like Siemens and Bombardier to set up a joint venture manufacturing unit in the country to make stainless steel coaches and wagons. We are set to transform Indian Railways due to the advantage the alloy provides,” he said while speaking on the sidelines of a session organised by the Indian Stainless Steel Development Association (ISSDA).

Government will hold 26 per cent in the JV while the rest 74 % will be with the private entity. At present, the Indian Railways consumes around 5,000 tonne of stainless steel he said and added that carbon steel is used mostly by it which entails an expenditure of around Rs 800 crore annually.

The Airports Authority of India, which is upgrading many domestic and international airports in the country, has felt the pinch of rising steel cost, Airports Authority of India executive director (Projects) SPS Bakshi said.

“There rising steel cost has affected our modernisation plan. The prices have almost doubled in last months.Our building cost has gone up by almost 35%,” Bakshi said.

AAI is also increasing its consumption of stainless steel as it has planned to modernise the airports predominantly using the alloy.

“Stainless Steel is very advantageous. Its corrission free, its strong, it gives more space, it can be given any shape, and it can be easily modified and redone. The cost of acquisition might be more but its expedites the process of construction,” he said.