This interface is being organised in view of the fact that Southern Railway alone will construct 209 bridges in next three years, JPC chairman and development commissioner of iron and steel (DCIS) RK Prasannan told reporters here on Thursday.

Indian Railways alone consumes 11 per cent of steel produced in India.Apart from railway officials, the participants will include steelmakers, both in public and private sectors like Steel Authority of India Ltd, Tata Steel, Mukand, Essar, Jindal and Ispat. Fabricators like Burn Standard, Jesshop, Braithwaite will also take part.

Prasannan said construction of bridges using steel structures would be faster compared to concrete bridges and would have a longer life. However, he admitted that the initial cost for steel bridges would be more.

He lamented that corrosion resistant quality in Indian steel was missing and suggested that Indian steel producers should take into account this factor and reshape their production accordingly to attract the railways.

In this connection, he referred to the Howrah Bridge in Calcutta. Entire steel required for the bridge was cast by Tata Steel taking into consideration the special requirements and specifications. "Unfortunately, Tata Steel itself does not now produce such high quality weather resistant steel.

Arguing that construction of steel bridges did not disrupt traffic much and thus social cost was less, Prasannan said that was why steel structures would be used for new Calcutta flyovers being financed by the Overseas Economic Cooperation Fund, Japan.

Bhilai Steel Plant of SAIL will supply steel for the flyovers and it has been asked to take up sand blasting to make the steel corrosion resistant. Moreover, Migron 50 paint will applied on the steel to be used in flyovers.Prasannan said that the British steel industry faced the same problems that Indian steel industry is facing now. Apart from the remedial measures, they opted for a package which included quality and delivery including freight.

Prasannan said pre-fabricated steel attracted excise duties both on value addition and transport, while they were not levied on pre-mix concrete. Such differentiation should be removed for the growth of steel consumption, he suggested.