The Rail Wheel Factory (RWF) at Yelahanka, the country’s largest producer of wheels and axles for the Indian Railways, is going in for two new ventures to ensure uninterrupted  power supply in its production stage – installation of an automated Oxygen Lancing System (OLS) and a dedicated power line.
 
The RWF produced 17,000 wheels during March 2008, the highest since the plant was commissioned  in 1984. This was achieved despite a 24-hour power shutdown during the month, which impacted five production days here, General Manager B B Modgil told Deccan Herald.

One of the measures undertaken to make the power situation sound is the planned OLS.

In this process, oxygen travels at supersonic speed and penetrates into molten steel. It reacts with carbon and produces the energy needed for production.  To be readied at a cost of Rs 21 crores, it is expected to start functioning from October.

Another major development will be the setting up of a separate tower with overhead lines, which has been okayed by the Karnataka Power Corporation Limited. This will ensure that RWF can switch between its two main power sources, Peenya and Doddaballapur, in case of power problem at one section.

The rejection rate of the manufactured wheel is less than one per cent while the normal rejection rate world over is between 9 and 10 per cent.

While it supplies 70 per cent of the wheels required by Railways, the Durgapur Steel Plant caters to 25 per cent  of the needs, and five per cent is imported. An identical factory is to be set up in Bihar within the next two years to meet the increase in demand for wheels.

Meanwhile, the RWF has set itself an ambitious target of two lakh wheels for the current financial year,  a mammoth increase of nearly 53,000 wheels over the previous year. The target figure fixed for axles is 75,000 as opposed to 52,800 of the previous year.  “Every extra wheel produced means a reduction in import of that one wheel, and this saves the country Rs 20,000 per wheel.” he added.