Bhilai Steel Plant (BSP), the flagship entity of Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL) in Chhattisgarh, has recorded its best ever loading of rails for despatch to the Indian Railways (IR) in the month of June 2017.

According to BSP officials, the plant has loaded 27 rakes of 260-metre-long rails from its rail and structural mill (RSM) and universal rail mill (URM) in June. The entire load in hand was meant to be sent to IR, to which BSP is the sole supplier as far as rails are concerned.

Officials added touted this to be the highest loading recorded in a single month since the plant’s inception. From the URM alone, a 14-rake consignment was dispatched to the IR.

Following the commissioning of the new URM, the plant has been rolling out the world’s longest 130-metre rails in a single piece.

Overall, loading has been good since the first quarter of FY17 with the BSP welding 65-metre-long rails from its RSM unit into 260-metre-long rail panels. The welding is done at the mill’s long rail complex and the final panels are loaded for dispatch to the IR.

During the April-June period this year, the plant loaded 65 rakes of 260- metre-long rails. This was until June, the highest dispatch recorded by BSP in any quarter.

In fact, the number of rakes loaded for dispatch has been increasing every month since the beginning of the current financial year. In April, a load of 17 rakes were sent off, while in May this increased to 21.