The first Casnub bogie built by Autokast Limited, a ferrous foundry manufacturing unit in the public sector in Cherthala, for Indian Railways was dispatched to Amritsar in Punjab by road on Friday.
It was flagged off by Industries Minister P. Rajeeve. He said the managements of public sector units (PSUs) in the State had been asked to prepare master plans. “The government will give its nod to master plans before August 15. One-time financial assistance will be given to each PSU based on the master plan,” the Minister said.
Mr. Rajeeve said steps had been taken to fill 29 vacant head posts in various PSUs.
Autokast, which was accorded Class A Foundry status by the Lucknow-based Research Design and Standards Organisation in 2019, bagged a ‘development order’ in March 2020 for manufacturing five Casnub bogies for goods trains for Northern Railway. The remaining four bogies will be delivered before September, Autokast officials said.
By successfully delivering the initial order for Casnub bogies, officials said Autokast had become eligible to participate in Railways’ tenders.
Apart from manufacturing Casnub bogies, Autokast recently supplied deck-mounted closed chocks for INS Vikrant, India’s first indigenous aircraft carrier. It recently supplied three super heater header castings in machined condition to the Golden Rock Railway Workshop in Tiruchirappalli for steam locomotives.
Turnaround
The remarkable turnaround of Autokast, which was once listed for privatisation, can be attributed to the previous Left Democratic Front government’s efforts to revive sick public sector undertakings in the State.
The government had injected money into Autokast, which helped it modernise the unit.
