The Hindu Business Line : Railways mulls wagon manufacturing unit in Kerala

A high-level team from the Railways is slated to visit the State tomorrow to hold discussions on setting up the unit in association with the state-owned Autokast Ltd and Steel Industrials Kerala Ltd. (SILK).

The team will visit the Autokast unit at Cherthala and later hold talks with the Chief Minister, Mr V.S. Achuthanandan, and the Industries Minister, Mr Elamaram Kareem, according to Government officials.

It is pointed out that the Railways is facing difficulties on the goods traffic front on account of shortage of wagons, among other things. At present, it is depending on private manufacturers, apart from Chittaranjan Locomotive Works, to procure wagons.

Huge gap

Even then, there is a huge gap between the demand and supply, with the Railways needing 25,000 new wagons every year. Against this, the Chittaranjan unit is manufacturing only 180-360 wagons. The demand for wagons is expected to go up further in the Eleventh Plan period with the implementation of the proposed `freight corridor' plan.

Autokast, engaged in steel casting, is already supplying castings to central public sector undertakings such as Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd, Steel Authority of India Ltd and National Thermal Power Corporation.

The company possesses land to the extent of 54 acres near the National Highway in Cherthala. This, together with the 26 acres of SILK adjacent to it, is proposed to be used for setting up the wagon manufacturing facility.

The officials said that the State Government was aiming for a joint venture between Autokast and the Railways. If the proposal materialised, the Railways would invest up to Rs 450 crore in the venture, they said.

Autokast, as of now, is utilising only 40 per cent of its annual installed capacity of 9,000 tonnes.