'Railways engaged private firms as SAIL couldn't meet demand'

In a written reply in Lok Sabha, Union Railway Minister Piyush Goyal said the need to engage private companies arose because the Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL), the regular supplier of rails to Indian Railways (IR), was unable to meet the full requirement of the national transporter from 2015-16 to 2019-20.

New Delhi: The Railways engaged two private companies to supply rails during 2015-2017 and 2018-2020, the parliament was informed on Wednesday.

"Two developmental orders were placed on M/s Jindal Steel & Power Limited (JSPL). One for the supply of 1.26 Lakh Metric Tonne (MT) was placed by IR and another for the supply of 0.89 Lakh MT was placed by Rail Vikas Nigam Limited (RVNL).

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"Since SAIL was not manufacturing Head Hardened rails, RVNL awarded an order for the supply of 6,700 MT to M/s East Metal AG and a developmental order for the supply of 3,000 MT to M/s JSPL," Union Railway Minister Piyush Goyal said in Lok Sabha.

Goyal also informed the House that 17.7 km tracks were laid down per day in 2017-2018 and 21.04 km tracks were laid down per day in 2020-2021 up to February.

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He also said the government had no plans to float a global tender to procure rail tracks.

PTI

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