CNG makes its debut at Rail Wheel Factory

BENGALURU: Friday marked a red-letter day on the green front for the Rail Wheel Factory (RWF) at Yelahanka as Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) made its way to the factory through a pipeline. The switch over from diesel oil used till now to the gas supplied by the Gas Authority of India Limited (GAIL) would result in huge savings for the factory as well as boost employees’ health. Future plans include extending it to the RWF colonies too, setting a trend for residential supplies.

A memorandum of understanding (MoU) to facilitate supply of CNG for 15 years from 2018 was signed on July 20 last year.Partha Jain, General Manager, Project Execution, GAIL, told TNIE, “We began our supply to RWF with 1000 Standard Cubic Metres (SCM) of CNG today. This is just the beginning. The quantity will be gradually increased to 17,000 SCM per day and later to 36,000 SCM per day.”  

The factory manufactures wheels and axles for the Indian Railways. “We manufacture 1.9 lakh wheels, 70,000 axles and 35,000 wheel sets (wheel and axle) annually. Our number averages 700 wheels and 270 axles per day,” said a senior railway official.

The move marks a good restart for the Steel Plant Melting Shop in the RWF which had shut shop from January 1 to March-end this year to put in place a ‘Secondary Fume Extraction System’ there in the interest of the health of the employees.”The manufacture of axles as well as wheel sets using the back up wheel inventory in place continued without a break. The steel shop reopened on March 26,” another official said.

The RWF will save up to Rs 16.5 crore annually due to the shift from the Hi-Speed Diesel (HSD) oil used presently. “The huge impact would be on the environment as carbon dioxide emissions will be reduced by nearly 28%,” the official said.It goes without saying that the health of employees who work in the furnaces to cast the wheels and axles will also benefit hugely, he added.