INDIA: Jupiter Wagons Ltd has opened a new forged railway wheel production plant at Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar in Odisha state, augmenting facilities it acquired earlier this year when it bought Bonatrans’ Indian subsidiary.
Indian group Jupiter concluded the purchase of the Czech wheelset specialist’s local arm earlier this year for Rs2·7bn, renaming it Jupiter Tatravagónka Railwheel Factory. This reflects the minority equity stake in JWL held by Slovakian wagon producer Tatravagónka since 2015.
Founded in 2006, JWL had primarily undertaken metal fabrication with a core focus on railway wagon production, as well as brake assemblies and discs, track components, commercial vehicle carbodies, electric vehicles and containers.
Indian Railways has forecast that its demand for wheels is set to grow from around 120 000 sets per annum in 2022-23 to 200 000 annually by the end of fiscal 2026. About half of this amount can currently be met by the domestic supply chain.
JWL’s new wheel factory is equipped with advanced production lines to enable production of forged wheelsets, and will expand the subsidiary’s annual production capacity from 20 000 to 100 000 wheelsets, supported by an investment of approximately Rs25bn.
From an initial production capacity of 1 000 wheelsets per month, the company plans to ramp up production to 5 000/month within the next two years. The facility is scheduled to be fully operational by 2027, and the company says JTRF will be the first in India to produce wheelsets for both local consumption and international markets. Around 50% of production capacity is to be dedicated to exports, particularly to its partner Tatravagónka and other European companies.
Jupiter Wagons has also announced a strategic partnership with Schuler India, the local division of Germany’s Schuler Group, for the supply of advanced forging machinery.
Highlighting the significance of this acquisition, Vivek Lohia, Managing Director of Jupiter Wagons, said the acquisition of Bonatrans India earlier this year was ‘a game-changer, enabling us to create an integrated supply chain for rail components. Traditionally, India has relied on imports for these critical components, but with this plant, we now have the capacity to manufacture them domestically at scale, improving both cost efficiency and supply chain security.’
The company’s growth also reflects a trend towards local production of railway components in India, but Lohia is also targeting export opportunities. ‘Our alliance with Schuler India will enable us to produce world-class wheelsets that not only meet the stringent requirements of domestic projects like metro systems and the Vande Bharat trains but also set new standards for global exports.’
- Following a visit to Kyiv by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in September, KLW Interpipe has reportedly delivered 2 000 forged wheelsets produced in Ukraine to Indian Railways, with a further 3 500 to follow.
