SAIL is eyeing the possibility of entering a whole new business of track laying and renewal. The steel major has initiated a dialogue with Indian Railways on this in the hope of tapping into a growing business in the near future. The upcoming Dedicated Freight Corridor project of the Railways also offers a whole new opportunity for SAIL. Its discussions with Railways, on the tracks business is at a conceptual stage and SAIL is currently exploring ways to expand its existing relationship in a big way.
SAIL is in talks with a couple of leading European rail technology majors to take its plans forward as the Railways is believed to be looking for an ‘end-to-end solutions provider’ in the area of track laying and renewal. Thus, SAIL may enter into a joint venture with the railways or get into the tracks business on its own. Railways have decided to renew 1,000 km of railway track every year from 2010-11 onwards. For a railway network that operates on 64,000 km of track, it is an ambitious and challenging target. Railways have decided to pump in `5,000 crore into track renewals in the upcoming fiscal, an increase of `707 crore from 2009-10. Apart from renewal, Indian Railways will also invest over `4300 crore in 2010-11 for construction of new lines, marking an increase of nearly 31 % from 2009-10. Given Railways’ size and its ambitious targets, track laying and renewal represents a large business opportunity for both material and engineering consultancy providers.
crackcrackCompany Name | CMP |
---|---|
Tata Steel | 138.95 |
JSW Steel | 913.10 |
SAIL | 115.50 |
Jindal Stainless | 734.00 |
Jindal Saw | 299.55 |
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