SAIL plans to begin trial production of special rails by month-end, says Chairman Amarendu Prakash
Global steel demand needs revival for domestic prices to rise HH rails are special rails used in high-speed freight corridors and metro rail projects. Such rails are manufactured using head hardening technology to bear about 50 per cent higher pressure compared to normal rails. SAIL has set up facilities for the production of HH rails at the new Universal Rail Mill (URM) at its Bhilai Steel Plant (BSP) in Chhattisgarh, and the cold trials for the same have already been completed.
The PSU will be the second player in India to start the production of HH rails. Jindal Steel and Power (JSPL) produces HH rails at its plant located in Raigarh, Chhattisgarh. SAIL also produces forged wheels for the Railways at Durgapur Steel Plant (DSP) in West Bengal, Prakash said.
The rails and wheels are supplied to Indian Railways, he added. On the sourcing of coking coal, Prakash said "We source coking coal from various sources Australia, the United States, Russia and Indonesia. We also have a JV company in Mozambique." SAIL sourced around eight coking coal shipments of 75,000 tonnes each from Russia during the April-September period of FY24.
To increase coking coal supplies, there are plans to double the production capacity of Mozambique-based ICVL from 2 MTPA to 4 MTPA, he said, adding a detailed project report is being prepared in this regard. Mozambique-based ICVL is a special-purpose vehicle of SAIL, RINL, NMDC, CIL and NTPC for acquiring coal mines and assets overseas. Also Read: Stainless steel policy likely next year, says JSL’s Abhyuday Jindal On the rising prices of coking coal, the chairman said it will directly affect the input cost and build pressure on profit margins.
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