Light weight

New Delhi, Feb. 26: The wagon industry has reasons to feel happy. Railway minister Lalu Prasad said in his budget speech today that his ministry would purchase about 11,000 wagons in 2007-08. Last year, the ministry procured 10,738 wagons.

“The minister has given more than enough for the industry to chew and digest. It is now the industry’s turn to reciprocate and accept the challenge,” R.C. Maheshwari, president and CEO, Texmaco, told The Telegraph. The company claims to contribute to nearly 25 per cent of the total wagon production.

The additional demand will help meet the increasing freight volume of the Railways, which went up nearly 17 per cent last year.

The ministry has also tried to create opportunity for new kinds of wagons.

“The budget has clearly created additional demand for the wagon industry, which will need to build infrastructure,” said J.P. Chowdhury, chairman of TIL Wagons.

Lalu Prasad said the Railways would procure 25-tonne and 22.9-tonne axle load wagons. He has expressed the demand for 22.9-tonne and 25-tonne axle load wagons to meet the requirement of steel and petroleum products.

The carrying capacity of freight trains comprising open and covered wagons will improve by 10 per cent and 30 per cent compared with existing trains.

“Comparatively large number of wagons will be required to meet the demand generated from container freight movement, wagon investment scheme (WIS) and other special purpose commodity-specific wagons for movement of cargo like cement, foodgrain, alumina and chemicals,” said Maheshwari.

In another development, wagon makers will be permitted to provide their own designs, with RDSO recommended bogies, coupler, draft and break gear.

At present, the Railways procures wagons based on RDSO’s designs. But now the design provided by wagon manufacturers will be certified and approved from the safety point of view within nine months by the RDSO.

“However, these wagons with new technology will be costlier than the old ones,” said the minister. According to estimates, a 10 per cent increase in wagon productivity will lead to an annual incremental earning of Rs 4,000 crore.