Hon’ble Union Minister of State of Railways and Jal Shakti Shri V Somanna inspected Rail Wheel Factory, Yelahanka and held a review meeting of Bengaluru Suburban Railway Project, with Shri MB Patil, Minister for Commerce & Industries and Infrastructure, Government of Karnataka at Bengaluru today.

Shri Rajgopal, General Manager, RWF and other senior officers were present on this occasion. The Minister was briefed on the various measures taken for the augmentation of capacity of the plant. The Minister inspected the forging complex, axle machining unit and also the wheel casting unit. He interacted with the staff and listened to their suggestions and grievances.

Later, he reviewed the performance of Rail Wheel Factory and discussed plans to augment the capacity of the plant. Addressing the Press, he said that RWF is playing a stellar role in fulfilment of the vision of Atmanirbhar Bharat of Hon’ble PM Shri Narendra Modi. A shining beacon of ‘Make in India – Make for the world’, RWF had exported wheels and axles to Mozambique, Sudan, Malaysia and other countries. 

The minister elaborated that the wheels, axles and wheelsets produced in RWF catered to various types of locomotives and wagons. He praised the ‘zero defect’ manufacturing process in RWF which is a result of a high degree of industrial automation. In 2023-24, RWF exceeded the target set by the Railway Board in the production of wheels, axles and wheel sets, he said.

Shri V Somanna announced that a 3rd Axle Machining Line is in the final stages of commissioning which will enhance the capacity of axle production by about 40,000 more axles per year. This would be a crucial measure in effectively meeting future demand, he said.

Rail Wheel Factory, Yelahanka, is a unique integrated Plant of the Indian Railways which manufactures Cast Wheels, Forged Axles and Wheelsets under single roof. The Plant achieved a record highest production of 1,96,265 Wheels, 83,054 Axles and 94,275 Wheelsets in the previous FY 2023-24. The Plant has a lean workforce of less than 1800 and its consistent performance was recognized at the highest level when it was jointly awarded the “Best Production Unit Shield” by the Hon. Minister of Railways for the FY 2022-23.
RWF is an environmentally responsible Plant which has many important initiatives such as Secondary Fume Extraction System and afforestation to ensure high air quality indices; Use of Thermal Sand Reclamation Plant to reclaim used sand, thereby minimising the requirement of sand mining.  Rejuvenation of wells for self generation of  water which yields approximately 1.92 lakh litres per day, Sewage Treatment Plant of 1.5 lakh litres per day within  the Factory and 3 lakh litres per day in the Colony which enabled for minimal dependence on BWSSB.

RWF has been awarded Golden Peacock Award for Environment Preservation in 2021 and Jalarushi award by BWSSB in 2020 for these efforts. RWF is certified for IRIS- International Railway Industries Standard - a testament to the high internal quality standards and enables RWF to explore foreign markets. RWF has exported wheels and axles for locos, Cape gauge coaches and DEMU trains to Mozambique Railways.

4037 Vande Bharat Axles have been manufactured and supplied by RWF to ICF and M/s Medha. In addition, 30 prototype axles for Vande Metro have also been developed and supplied by RWF to ICF, Chennai. In-house designed Scrap Wheel Cutting Machines enable automated scrap cutting for feeding into the Electric Arc Furnaces.  These ensure a safer and more environment friendly working environment for the workers. A new Axle Forging Complex has been commissioned recently and it has added a capacity of 90,000 forged axles per annum.A third Axle Machining Line is nearing commissioning and will enhance capacity by 42,000 axles/annum leading to self-sufficiency. Rail Wheel Factory is a pioneering Plant which continues to be a leader in self-sufficiency and strives to further the vision of Atmanirbhar Bharat and Viksit Bharat.

 

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