SAIL started production of better rail tracks than European countries

Bhilai, India (Urban Transport News): The state-run government Public Sector Undertaking (PSU), Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL) has commenced production of high-quality rails (R-260 grade rail) for the Railway industry in its Bhilai Steel Plant. The quality of these rails is better than the rails being used in European countries. On this type of rail track, not only can be used for running high-speed trains but the goods trains can also be run faster than before.

Anirban Dasgupta, director of SAIL and in-charge of Bhilai Steel Plant (BSP) said that rail tracks are being built in Bhilai according to specifications of different grades, quality, profiles and lengths for Indian Railways for more than six decades. Now the new R-260 grade rail with a new 60E-1 profile has been started to suit the changing requirement of the railways. The R-260 grade was first developed and rolled out by the SAIL-Bhilai Steel Plant in June 2020. The plant has supplied over 12,000 tonnes of new grade rails to the Railways in the last financial year.

SAIL officials said that Indian Railways is moving towards higher speed and axle load in rail transport. For this, the Railways have demanded SAIL to produce micro-alloy rail steel. To meet this requirement, SAIL-BSP has given special focus on the production of the new R-260 grade rail. With this, this rail could be provided with high yield strength. The R-260 grade rail with the 60E-1 profile is capable of carrying much higher speeds and greater axle loads than the European specification EN-13674.

In the months of April and May 2021 of the current financial year, 56,000 tonnes of 60 E-1 profile rail of R-260 grade rail has been rolled out so far and out of which about 50,000 tonnes have already been sent to Indian Railways.