Rail Wheel Plant, Bela (

Hindi Modern Standard Hindi (, ), commonly referred to as Hindi, is the Standard language, standardised variety of the Hindustani language written in the Devanagari script. It is an official language of India, official language of the Government ...

: रेल पहिया कारखाना, बेला) is an independent production unit of

Indian Railways Indian Railways is a state-owned enterprise that is organised as a departmental undertaking of the Ministry of Railways (India), Ministry of Railways of the Government of India and operates India's national railway system. , it manages the fou ...

situated in the Bela gram panchayat of Dariapur Block, Parsa in

Saran district Saran district is one of the 38 Districts of Bihar, districts of Indian States and territories of India, state of Bihar. The district, part of Saran Division, is also known as Chhapra district after the headquarters of the district, Chhapra. It is ...

Bihar Bihar ( ) is a states and union territories of India, state in Eastern India. It is the list of states and union territories of India by population, second largest state by population, the List of states and union territories of India by are ...

. It was inaugurated in 2008 by former Railway Minister

Lalu Prasad Yadav Lalu Prasad (born 11 June 1948) is an Indian politician who served as the chief minister of Bihar from 1990 to 1997 with a brief interruption in 1995 and as the union minister for Railways from 2004 to 2009. He is the founder and president o ...

, and was built at a cost of . The station is spread over an area of , and employs approximately 956 persons appointed by the Indian Railways, along with 300 contractual staff members.

Construction

The Rail Wheel Plant's construction, which started in July 2008, was a step to revive industrialization in

North Bihar ''North Bihar'' is a term used for the region of Bihar, India, which lies north of the Ganga river. Towns and Cities * Naugachia A sub-division in the Bhagalpur district, Naugachia is renowned for its banana farming and is affectionatel ...

. 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, Bihar 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 Naya gaon railway station, (Station code: NYO), is a railway station in Sonpur Block in Saran district in the Indian state of Bihar. One siding Railway line from Rail Wheel Plant, Bela plant site to Nayagaon station is under construction. Tra ...

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 the Ministry of Power, Government of India. It is engaged mainly in transmission of bulk power across different states of India. I ...

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