The team of engineers and technicians running and maintaining operations of Bhilai Steel Plant’s Universal Rail Mill has achieved as many as four records on Thursday (June 14, 2017).
The Mill that has been steadily improving its performance in the last couple of months has recorded Rolling and NDT (non-destructive testing) of as many as 117 pieces of 130 metre long Rails.
Visual inspection of 116 pieces of 130 metre long Rails and welding of 108 rail joints recorded the same day are also all-time best figures. Only a day earlier, on June 13, 2017, Team URM had achieved record rolling of 115 pieces of 130 metre long rails.
BSP CEO M Ravi congratulated all members of Team URM as also all those associated with URM operations, maintenance, testing, welding etc for the achievement.
As many as ten rakes of 260 metres long rails were despatched to different destinations from Bhilai Steel Plant’s 'Universal Rail Mill' in the month of May this year. While one rake each were despatched to Agra Cantonment, Jhasidih, Palwal, New Cooch Bihar, Jagannathpur and Quilon, two rakes were despatched to Raigarh and Rasmada. The total tonnage despatched in the ten rakes is 8471 tonnes, a BSP press release informed.
Rate of rolling of long rails has been progressively increasing at the Universal Rail Mill that was commissioned in January 2017.
The entire team of Universal Rail Mill as also members of other agencies working alongside the personnel managing operations and maintenance of the new mill are working relentlessly to ensure smooth rolling as also to increase the rolling rate, it stated.
A total of 4674 tonnes of rails was despatched in five rakes to Rupnagar, Raigarh, Mugar, Kalyan and Cannanore in April 2017 while 2635 tonnes was despatched in three rakes to Janpahad, Anuppur and Talcher in March 2017. Total despatches of 260 metre rails from URM in the three months from March to May 2017 has been 15,780 tonnes.
Notably, the world’s longest 130 metre rails rolled at the new Mill are welded at the new Rail Welding Plant adjacent to URM and loaded for despatch from the Mill’s loading complex.
The new 1.2 MTPA Universal Rail Mill would help SAIl to meet the increased demand for 260 metre rails from the Indian Railways.
Continuing to operate well above the rated capacity in all major areas of production, the Bhilai Steel Plant has concluded the financial year 2016-17 with an annual production of 5.04 Million Tonnes of Hot Metal, 4.74 Million Tonnes of Crude Steel and 4.00 Million Tonnes of Saleable Steel.
The Plant would be achieving a capacity utilization of 107.4 percent in Hot Metal, 120.9 percent in Crude Steel and 127.1 percent in Saleable Steel, respectively.
The four finishing mills of SAIl’s Bhilai Steel Plant- the Plate Mill, Rail and Structure Mill, Merchant Mill and Wire Rod Mill- have registered record-breaking and encouraging performances in production of special quality value added steel grades in financial year 2016-17.
The Plant would be recording best ever loading of around 1,49,700 tonnes of 130 metre and 260 metre long rails, surpassing previous best of 1,41,670 tonnes recorded in corresponding period of 2014-15.
It is worth mentioning that the Rail and Structure Mill has surpassed its ABP target of 8 lakh tonnes for the year by producing 8,11,939 tonnes of Rails till March 30, 2017.
The Plant’s Plate Mill is set to record best ever production of 1,01,500 T of BQ Plates, surpassing previous best of around 91,392 T recorded in corresponding period of 2011-12. The Mill is also set to record production of 2,14,000 tonnes of HT Plates for home sales, surpassing previous best of 2,04,301 tonnes recorded in corresponding period of 15-16.
Plate Mill would also be recording best ever finished production of around 1,98,613 tonnes of Plates in 12 mm thickness against previous best of 1,80,807 tonnes in 2015-16. Despatch of around 1,90,267 tonnes of Plates in 12 mm thickness is also going to be the best as against previous best of 1,80,728 tonnes in 2015-16.
The two other finishing Mills of the Plant – the Wire Rod Mill and Merchant Mill would also be registering growth in production of special quality value added steel grades in the current financial year.
The Plant has also exported almost double the volume of steel in April to February period of fiscal year 2016-17 as compared to corresponding period of last fiscal year. The Plant registered total export loading of 79,833 tonnes of steel in the April to February period of last fiscal year. This included 52,645 tonnes of plates, 3,800 tonnes of billets and 2,700 tonnes of wire rods. In the April to Feb period of 2015-16, the Plant had exported 40,433 tonnes of steel including 22170 of plates.
Notably, SAIl is also the largest and main supplier of steel for constructing country’s longest bridge 'Dhola-Sadiya’ which is built on river lohit in Assam, a company press release informed.
SAIl has supplied around 90% or around 30,000 tonnes of steel, including TMT, Structurals and Plates, for this bridge which will connect the states of Assam and Arunachal Pradesh.
The product mix offered by SAIl was one of the major criteria for selection of the company for this prestigious project.
The construction of this 9.15-km-long bridge began in 2011 under public private partnership. This bridge is 3.55 kilometers longer than Mumbai’s Bandra-Worli Sea link, making it the longest bridge in India.
SAIl is supplying steel for several vital projects in country’s north-eastern region.
Apart from the Dhola-Sadiya bridge, SAIl steel has also been used for constructing the Bogibeel Rail-cum-Road bridge, several power plants including 750 MW power plant of NTPC & 600 MW Kameng Hydro-electric project, Trans Arunachal highway etc. which all are very important projects for the region.
SAIl has identified specific focus areas in the North-eastern region for increasing its presence and market share and has adopted a structured approach to widen its footprints. Supplying steel to remote areas of NE, tapping the high potential rural sector of the region, exploring the Government’s thrust to improve the nation’s connectivity with North-east - all prominently figure on the company’s priority list.
Recently SAIl has appointed a General Manager to look after steel marketing in this area. Becoming part of projects of such national importance and value is also a testimony to nation’s trust on SAIl steel.
SAIl is now in a position to offer better and more value-added steel for such projects as it is almost completing its balance modernization.
Notably, pursuing a clear agenda of growth, the Ministry of Steel has had many firsts to its credit. In the year 2015, India became the third largest producer of steel in the world. Recent data shows that India is now looking at positioning itself as the second largest in the very near future.
In the last three years, there has been capacity addition at a steady CAGR of about 7%. There has also been an improvement in the overall capacity utilization.
Another strategic push for the steel industry has been the policy to provide preference to Domestically Manufactured Iron & Steel Products (DMI&SP) in Government procurements. This will not just provide a level playing field to the domestic steel industry but will also promote development of domestic steel Industry. Besides, it will also reduce the inclination to use, low quality and low cost imported steel in Government funded projects.
