NEW DELHI (Metro Rail News): To enhance the share of freight traffic carried by Indian Railways (IR), the Ministry of Railways is likely to acquire additional 60,000 wagons, estimated to cost around Rs 25,000 crore. The tenders for procuring these wagons, including 10,000 aluminium ones, will be floated between July and September.
According to a senior Railway Ministry official, “the ministry is finalizing a tender for the procurement of additional 50,000 wagons and is also considering a separate tender for the acquisition of 10,000 aluminium waggons.” These new tenders are part of a long-term aim to boost rail’s current share of freight traffic from 27% to 45% by 2030.
The official further disclosed that approximately 20,000 rakes from the second round of tenders will be procured by 2025, while the rest wagons will be delivered between 2026 and 2028.
An official stated, “Indian Railways intends to introduce a premium cargo service using aluminium rakes, which will not only be quicker than traditional rakes but will also adhere to manufacturers’ environmental, social, and governance (ESG) norms.”
The lightweight nature of aluminium will result in lower energy consumption, while customers opting for aluminium goods trains will receive ESG certificates from Indian Railways due to the wagons’ ability to save 14,500 tonnes of CO2 emissions and consume less energy, all while being corrosion-resistant.
The latest proposed tenders are part of the government’s larger drive to deploy over 1 lakh waggons over the next few years to increase freight loading to 2,000 million tonnes (MT) by 2024-25.
Vivek Lohia, the managing director of Jupiter Wagons, revealed that his company anticipates the release of tenders for 50,000 to 80,000 new wagons by Indian Railways in 2023-24. Lohia intends to bid for these tenders and has set his sights on securing orders for at least 20,000 wagons from the railways in the upcoming fiscal year.
With a current stock of approximately 320,000 wagons, Indian Railways intends to use the new acquisitions to supplement its existing capacity. These efforts form part of a larger plan to cater to 45 per cent of India’s freight traffic by 2030.
According to Indian Railways, aluminum rakes have a resale value of 80 percent and a lifespan that is 10 years longer than conventional ones. However, the manufacturing cost is 35 percent higher due to the all-aluminum superstructure.
In a statement, Hindalco mentioned that as the railways prepare to deploy over 1 lakh wagons in the upcoming years, there is a potential for an annual reduction of more than 25 lakh tonnes of CO2. This reduction can be achieved by shifting approximately 15 to 20 percent of the wagons to aluminum.
