DURGAPUR STEEL PLANT MEETS 100 PER CENT QUALITY REQUIREMENT OF THE RAILWAYS

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LOK SABHA

Wheels manufactured at Durgapur Steel Plant meets 100 per cent quality requirement specified by the Indian Railways. Wheel are tested/inspected by the inspecting agency of Railway i.e. Rail India Technical and Economic Services (RITES) before despatch. Fracture of wheels have taken place, in most cases, after prolonged usage and under application of severe breaking conditions leading to thermal cracks.

In the last two years, SAIL has upgraded the Wheels & Axles testing facilities to make the Wheels manufactured at Durgapur Steel Plant exactly in line with the stringent requirements of Indian Railways. Facilities such as Online Ultrasonic Testing Machine, Magnetic Particle Testing Machine, Online Hardness Testing Machine, Universal Testing Machine, Optical Brinell Harness Tester and Macro-Etching facility have been installed. Further improvement, as needed, are regularly considered under the guidance of Railway Design and Standard Organisation (RDSO).

Steel Minister alongwith Chairman, SAIL visited Wheel & Axle Plant at Durgapur in October 2003 and reviewed the whole gamut of issues involving manufacturing and quality assurances system at DSP and were satisfied with the same.

This information was given by the Minister for Steel, Shri B.K. Tripathy in a written reply in the Lok Sabha today.