India: JSPL Receives Additional Order From Indian Railways for 30,000 Tonnes Long Rails

Soon after received its first ever order from Indian Railways for supply of close to 1 lakh tonne in 2018, Jindal Steel & Power Ltd (JSPL) has been awarded an additional order for supply of 30,000 tonnes under the same global tender. The additional order enhances the order size by over 30%, with the overall order size now estimated at around INR 650 crore, as per recent press release by the company.

Confirming the receipt of the additional order of 30,000 tonnes, JSPL's Joint MD Mr. Naushad Ansari said, "We are happy to know that the Indian Railways has been appreciative of our Rails and have placed an additional order. JSPL endeavors to emerge as the most preferred supplier of Rails to Indian Railways for building and modernizing domestic rail network."

So far JSPL has supplied close to 62,400 MT of Rails out of the earlier order and is in track to complete the 1 lakh tonne order ahead of time.

Indian Railways had floated a Global tender for procurement of Rails for the first time. Till JSPL became the first private sector rail manufacturer to supply Rails, all requirements for Rails were being supplied by government owned Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL). The global tender was floated after SAIL's production capacities were not able to cater the increasing requirements of the Indian Railways.

Earlier under the global tender which saw participation from 7 leading global rail manufacturers, JSPL emerged as the only winner under the bid, bagging 20% of the envisaged requirement.

Deployment of Rails manufactured by JSPL has already commenced for laying tracks under the modernization and expansion plans of Indian Railways.

JSPL operates 0.75 Million tonnes per annum (MTPA) Rail & Universal Beam mill at its steel plant at Raigarh - Chhattisgarh, as per the company.