Amid border tension, mobile firm raids, India orders railway wheels from Chinese company

WHILE things are not going too well at the borders and in the commercial space as the recent raids by Indian authorities against some Chinese mobile companies have shown, the Indian Railways has ordered 39,000 wheels for LHB (Linke- Hofmann-Busch) train coaches from Chinese manufacturer Taiyuan since supplies under ongoing contracts were hit by the ongoing crisis in Ukraine, the country's railways minister Ashwini Vaishnaw told the Lok Sabha or the Lower House of the parliament during the ongoing monsoon session on Thursday (21).

Vaishnaw, who was responding to a query, said an order of 30,000 wheels had earlier been placed with a firm based in Ukraine but it was unable to meet because of the Russian invasion.

“M/s KLW invoked force majeure clause due to inability to supply on account of war crisis in Ukraine and a formal purchase order could not be issued to the Ukrainian firm,” Vaishnaw said.

He also added that to overcome the crisis of wheels for LHB coaches, the Indian Railways floated a tender for 39,000 wheels and placed an order on M/s Taizhong, Hong Kong, with manufacturer M/s Taiyuan, China.

“This firm is registered with department for promotion of industry and internal trade for wheels for LHB coaches as per Land Border policy of Government of India,” the railways minister said.

The rate on which the new contract was placed is 1.68 per cent higher than the rate per wheel given in the older order, Vaishnaw said.

In recent years, many orders by the Indian Railways were cancelled due to border tensions between New Delhi and Beijing.