The Indian Railways has taken over operations of the forged wheel plant of debt-laden Rashtriya Ispat Nigam (RINL) at Raebareli in Uttar Pradesh. The takeover took place in April, and investment is being made in capacity expansion at the unit.

The terms of the takeover includes part payment of Rs 800-900 crore, and a transfer of Rs 1,000 crore of RINL’s debt to the forged wheel unit. The Ministry of Steel retains control of the steel plant, known as Vizag Steel, and the Railways now own and will oversee the forged wheel unit.

The plant was set-up with the capacity to produce 80,000 wheels a year. By this year-end, the unit is expected be ready to be operational at full capacity, while ramp up will happen in subsequent years. Incidentally, RINL had received initial orders of around 2,000 wheels, which were delivered in FY23.