ATMANIRBHAR BHARAT
India becomes Atmanirbhar in Head Hardened Rail Production
The Government must make Policies to curtail Rail Imports in a move to promote indigenous Rails and their Manufacturers Growing cities, growing population and growing traffic has invariably called for a shift from private modes of conveyance to public transport. India is looking to create a world-class infrastructure with its existent Kolkata, Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Chennai, Jaipur, and Kochi metros with the addition of Pune, Chandigarh, Ahmedabad, Kanpur, Ludhiana, Bhopal, Indore, Agra, Kanpur and Faridabad are being chalked out. Metro Rail Tracks are designed to conform to the appropriate load category according to UIC Leaflet 700; axle-loads of coach and for a train speed of 90 kmph and shall enable a level of passenger comfort as per international standards throughout the service life of the rail system. Rails on Metro tracks suffer lateral and vertical wear due to load applied on rails by wheels. This is predominantly due to large traffic movement and sharp curves. In order to optimize utilization of rails for increase service life and reduce degradation due to wear and rolling contact fatigue, it is recommended to use Head Hardened Rails. Head Hardened Rails offers better service life and thereby rail replacement frequency from challenging underground and elevated viaduct sections is reduced. And hence Metro Projects are predominantly designed on Head Hardened Rails. Under the GOI ambitious “Make in India” scheme, the two large steel manufacturers in India took up the initiative to develop “Head Hardened Rails” to meet the growing demand of Metro Rail Corporations and High-Speed corridor projects indigenously.
However. it is seen that all Metro Rail Corporations and HighSpeed Rail projects are still insisting on imports of Head Hardened rails excusing lack in faith due to little or no experience of manufacturing by new Indian rail mills. Renowned Rail Track Expert and President of Rail Consult India, who worked in RDSO and was Additional Member Civil, Railway Board, Mr. J. S. Mundrey submits his concern over negligence of GOI policy and domestic capability by these projects. He further states that: “In India, we have now two Rail Rolling Mills, which have adopted “the state-of-the-art technology” in producing rails to National and International Specifications. But they could not participate in the rail tenders of Metro Rail Corporations and NCRTC as they were unable to meet the “Contractual and Technical Experience” prescribed in the tender documents. THE SUPPLY ORDER HAS THEREFORE BEEN PLACED ON AN OUT - SHORE COMPANY. Having worked in the Indian Railways for long years, out of that FOUR years in RDSO in the Track Modernisation Cell and FIVE years as Adviser Civil Engineering Railway Board, having written the book, ”Railway Track Engineering”, and presently engaged in Track Consultancy assignments, nationally and internationally, I can claim to have some knowledge of Railway Track Technology. I would thus submit, in all humility, as under for serious consideration. METRO RAIL NEWS | January 2020 | WWW.METRORAILNEWS.IN
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