Rail wheel factory to switch over to LPG

This follows a deal inked by RWF with the Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) recently. RWF General Manager R K Upadhyay told Deccan Herald that the High Speed Diesel deployed presently will be replaced by Liquified Petroleum Gas (LPG) shortly. “The quantity of sulphur emitted by LPG will be much less compared to that released by diesel and this will certainly have a positive impact on the environment,” he said. The fuel costs incurred by RWF will come down by 20%. Use of LPG would also speed up the burning process, he added.

“We signed a contract with IOC 20 days ago and they are now in the process of setting up their facility within our premises to facilitate the supply of LPG,” the GM added. The long-term plan is to use CNG (Compressed Natural Gas) but since it is expected to be available in the City only by 2012, LPG will be used for a couple of years.

The facility will be in place by December and the switching over to the new fuel will be done in phases. “It will take up to two years for fuel in the entire factory to be replaced by LPG,” he said. The LPG will be used for the three huge furnaces, each of which requires fuel running to 20 tonnes capacity. The fuel is vital to cast wheels and forge axles.

Pilot experiment

Upadhyay said that BEML which supplies coaches to Delhi Metro has also switched over to LPG and had reported no adverse effects. As a precautionary measure, RWF had experimented with LPG on four different occasions.

RWF has an ISO 14001-2000 certification for its environment-friendly practices. It is the only integrated plant in the world to manufacture wheels, axles and wheel sets (wheels integrated with axles) under one roof. Until the end of August 2009, the factory has churned out 21, 43, 445 wheels, 10,80,707 axles and 7,76,635 wheels sets since its inception in September 15, 1984.