Bureaucratic lethargy is coming in the way of capacity expansion of Indian Railways. The latest case to exemplify this is non-placement of orders for 15,715 wagon, which were to be procured in 2011-12.

Rail Bhawan sources told FE that the matter was stuck at the board level. ?We have shortlisted firms for supply of wagons and apportioned respective quantities among them. However, an official order can be released only after the board’s approval,? a senior official said.

Railway board member (mechanical) Sanjiv Handa, who is in-charge of the R4,000-crore wagon tender, did not respond to repeated calls.

Railways has selected nine wagon manufacturers, including Texmaco, Titagarh, Jupiter and Hindustan Engineering & Industries (HEI), for the contract. The maximum quantity of 3,539 wagons has been apportioned to Texmaco, followed by BESCO (Wagon) and Jupiter at 2,733 and 2,525 units, respectively.

Some of the shortlisted companies said the railways had kept them in dark about the time of giving formal orders. ?My company is among those selected for the order but I don’t know when are they going to issue the order. It was to be done by the middle of November as per earlier indications,? a senior

executive at one of the firms said on condition of anonymity as railways is the biggest client for the company.

The likelihood of not meeting the target is high because even if formal orders are given now, companies would take at least three months to start production, leaving less than two months for completing the order.

This is not the first case where delay in decision-making in the railways is jeopardising plans announced in Parliament.

The national transporter is struggling to award locomotive and coach factory projects in Bihar and West Bengal, announced three years back. Last heard, it was preparing fresh bidding documents for two locomotive projects in Bihar, while a coach factory in West Bengal is likely to be awarded on nomination basis.

The wagon manufacturers are currently busy finishing past years’ orders. At the end of 2010-11, delivery of 12,000 wagons was pending. ?The railway board has a history of delaying order for wagons. This hampers our ability to operate plants at the required capacity. Supply of raw materials like steel and wheels from railways also get delayed,? a senior official at one of the manufacturers said. Railways had targeted purchasing 18,000 wagons in 2009-10 but could buy only 15,400. In 2010-11, it wanted to acquire 18,000 wagons, but here too it received delivery of 16,638 units only.

In 2011-12, it has a target of procuring 18,000 wagons but only 15,715 would be bought from private firms. The balance would come from its own factories.