A subsidiary of Jindal Stainless Ltd., JSL Lifestyle, has launched its first dedicated facility for Indian Railways in Chennai. Spread over two acres in Maraimalai Nagar, an industrial estate, this new railway facility would allegedly provide in-time delivery of high quality stainless steel components, for production of railway coaches to the Integral Coach Factory (ICF).
Apparently, this facility would build railway coach sub-assemblies such as retention tanks, trough floor, roof arch and side-wall for ICF, Chennai. These components would be utilized in the coaches of Linke Hofmann Busch (LHB) type model as well as other variants.
An official statement revealed that this unit’s proximity to ICF Chennai would check on-time deliveries for Indian Railways, and low inventory costs would assist in achieving improved cost efficiency. These components were previously supplied to the Indian Railways from the Pathredi unit of Jindal Stainless in Haryana.
Deepika Jindal, Managing Director of JSL Lifestyle, mentioned that the relationship of Jindal Stainless with the Indian Railways is around two decades old. The company has further strengthened this relationship by setting-up the facility in Chennai.
Jindal further said that JSL Lifestyle expects to achieve several new milestones in this journey. The company has currently begun its operations with about 4,800 tons of fabrication per year and would escalate it up to 7,200 tons in a few years.
Sources familiar with the matter said, JSL Lifestyle is anticipating an initial revenue of approx. Rs. 100 crore per year from this facility. The revenue is anticipated to touch approx. Rs. 300 crore per year once an enhanced capacity of 7,200 tons is reached.
Railways purportedly plans to manufacture about 10,000 stainless steel coaches yearly, over the next 4 to 5 years. These coaches have enhanced safety owing to its corrosion and fire resistant features, along with having high impact resistance, thereby reducing casualties in the cases of collision or accident.
