Rail Wheel Plant, Bela (

Hindi Hindi (Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been ...

: रेल पहिया कारखाना, बेला) is an independent Production Unit of

Indian Railways Indian Railways (IR) is a statutory body under the ownership of Ministry of Railways, Government of India that operates India's national railway system. It manages the fourth largest national railway system in the world by size, with a tota ...

. It is situated in Bela Gram Panchayat, Dariapur Block, Parsa in

Saran district Saran district is one of the thirty-eight districts of Indian state of Bihar. The district, part of Saran Division, is also known as Chhapra district after the headquarters of the district, Chhapra. It is considered as one of the richest Zamindar ...

Bihar Bihar (; ) is a state in eastern India. It is the 2nd largest state by population in 2019, 12th largest by area of , and 14th largest by GDP in 2021. Bihar borders Uttar Pradesh to its west, Nepal to the north, the northern part of West ...

. It was inaugurated in 2008 by the former Railway Minister of India,

Lalu Prasad Yadav Lalu Prasad Yadav (born 11 June 1948) is an Indian politician and president of the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD). He is a former Chief Minister of Bihar (1990-1997), a former Railway Minister of India (2004-2009), and a former Member of Parliam ...

. It was built at a cost of . It is spread over a land area of 165 acres.

Construction

The Rail Wheel Plant's construction, which started in July 2008, was a step to revive industrialization in North Bihar. Indian Railways made history by awarding this project as an Engineering Procurement & Construction (EPC) contract to Larsen & Toubro Limited (L&T). It was the first time in the history of Indian Railways that a highly sophisticated factory was set up without any foreign collaboration. It was possible because of the in-house capability of railway engineers and expertise of L&T. The construction division of L&T (ECC) was involved in civil & electrical works, whereas the Railway Business Unit (an initiative of L&T in rolling stock projects) set up methods and procedures along with interfacing of equipment. Working in close coordination with contractors and sub-contractors, Indian Railways achieved completion of the project within the stipulated time-frame of 40 months (24 months of the original time schedule and additional extensions). It was a challenge for Indian Railways to start civil works in a difficult site which is surrounded by rivers on all sides. To add to complications, the elevation of the plant was lower than the river bed. Because the soil was loose, stone columns were constructed to increase the load-bearing capacity of the soil. Additionally, Bihara is a remote area so L&T deployed 24-hour security because there was the constant fear of unlawful activities by locals and Maoist insurgents. One siding Railway line from the plant site to Nayagaon railway station is under construction. The plant dispatched its first consignment of about 250 broad gauge passenger coach wheels in October 2016. Nearly 3000 workers were employed during peak construction period including 300 highly skilled engineers of various specialties.

Safety

The Rail Wheel Plant project was completed with a safety record of 1 million safe man hours. This admirable safety record was achieved through a daily morning pep-talk and vigilant site supervision by trained and qualified safety stewards.

Villages affected

The villages of Dariyapur Block specially Lalu Tola, Mushahari, Durbela, Babu Tola, and Kochwara were affected by the acquisition of land from farmers of these villages.

compensated farmers for the acquired lands and promised them jobs in the plant.

Electricity

The State Government in collaboration with

Power Grid Corporation of India Power Grid Corporation of India Limited is an Indian central public sector undertaking under the ownership of Ministry of Power, Government of India. It is engaged mainly in transmission of bulk power across different states of India. It is ...

founded the Sitalpur Power Grid in the year 2000 to provide electricity to the plant and neighboring villages in a radius of 25 km.

Education

The Rail Wheel Plant founded some institutions for its employee and members of neighboring villages, especially Bela Gram Panchayat and Dariyapur: * Kendriya Vidyalaya, Bela (affiliated from CBSE Delhi) * Yamunachari High School, Dariyapur (State Government School affiliated from BSEB Patna) * Government High School, Dariyapur (State Government School affiliated from BSEB Patna)

References

External links

Rail wheel plant bela site

Tender notice of Rail wheel Factory Bela

Indian Railways, Workshop Projects, Patna

Lalu kicks off work at Chhapra wheel factory - Times Of India

INDIAN RAILWAYS WORKSHOP PROJECTS Office of the Chief ...
, Indian Railways {{Indian Railways Coach and wagon manufacturers of India Saran district Manufacturing plants in Bihar 2008 establishments in Bihar Industrial buildings completed in 2008