In a big boost to the Make-In-India campaign, Railways plans to reduce foreign dependence by domestically manufacturing train wheels.

Union Minister of Railways, Ashwini Vaishnaw, today (14 december) informed the Lok Sabha that a tender has been floated for inviting bids to make and supply about 15,40,000 wheels in India.

These forged wheels of different rolling stock will be supplied to the Railways over the period of 20 years and suppliers with local content more than 60 per cent are eligible. The tender is due to be opened on 24 January 2023.

In September this year, Indian Railways floated a tender worth Rs 1,000 crore, inviting interested players to set up a factory in the country to manufacture forged wheels for semi-high speed and high-speed trains.

As an assured offtake, the Railways would procure nearly 80,000 forged train wheels at the cost of Rs 600 crore per year from the proposed facility.

Though tender is open to Indian players only, they would be allowed to export the forged wheels to Europe and other countries after supplying the products to the Railways.

Until now, Indian Railways was mostly dependent on Europe to import forged wheels for its requirement.

Since the European market is badly affected by the Ukraine war, India can prepare itself to export the wheels manufactured in the country.