Railways plans to convert traditional coaches to LHB
However, wheels for these coaches were, however, imported by the Railways. This is the first time when these coaches have been developed indigenously by a state-owned enterprise. An official statement said that DSP's Wheel and Axle Plant, which has been making wheels for railway coaches, took up the challenge and managed to successfully develop LHB coach wheels as per the Railways' stringent norms and standards.
The first consignment consisted of 30 wheels and was flagged off by Anirban Dasgupta, CEO of ISP, who holds additional charge as CEO of Durgapur Steel Plant & ASP, in presence senior officials and Wheel & Axle collective, the statement said.
The success story
The design of LHB wheel is unique because of its web profile. The metallurgical property of LHB wheels are also of very stringent, the statement said. For achieving the complex dimension of LHB wheels, the new design of dies and rolls were done in Wheel Design Center of Wheel & Axle plant. With the use of simulation software, the profiles of Dies and Rolls required for manufacturing of LHB wheel was optimised. After Forging Dies and Roll design were finalised, the wheels were manufactured in-house and trails were undertaken. The heat treatment process for LHB wheels to achieve the stringent metallurgical property was standardized at Wheel & Axle Plant with the help of RCL, RDCIS and RDSO /IR, the statement said.
