On a construction site in Audi Sha Bang, pile drivers are compacting the foundation of a new factory building - which will produce over 100000 sets of high-precision railway wheelsets annually in the future, with nearly half of them being shipped across the sea to Europe. India, which used to rely on imported wheelsets for a long time, is now knocking on the door to the European Union with this new joint venture factory. Recently, Jupiter Wagons from India signed a ten-year wheel supply agreement with Tatravag ó nka, a Slovak railway freight car manufacturing giant. This is the first time that Indian railway wheel products have been allowed to enter the EU market and is seen as a key step in India's transformation from a net importer of components to a global supplier of railway equipment.

According to the agreement, Tatravag ó nka - one of the largest railway freight car manufacturers in Europe - will purchase wheelsets from the joint venture, with an annual demand of approximately 20000 to 30000 sets of wheelsets. The General Manager of Jupiter Wagons stated that this agreement is expected to bring in revenue of INR 10 billion to INR 15 billion (approximately USD 100 million to USD 150 million) for the company in the coming years, with the first batch of products scheduled to be delivered by the end of 2027. Both sides will also jointly promote the upgrading of India's domestic wheelset manufacturing technology, and the related products have completed preliminary verification in India's joint development.

The wheelsets supplied to the European market will mainly come from the green factory jointly built by both parties in Odisha, India. The total investment of this project is about 30 billion rupees (over 300 million US dollars), and it is expected to be put into operation in December 2027, with an annual production capacity of 100000 sets of wheelsets, of which about 50% are targeted for export. In addition, Jupiter Wagons acquired a wheelset factory in Aurangabad, Maharashtra in 2024, with an annual production capacity of approximately 20000 sets, which can serve as an existing supplementary production capacity.keywords:Foreign construction news network

In recent years, India has accelerated the localization of key railway components to reduce its dependence on imports from China and other countries. In addition to European orders, Jupiter Wagons currently undertakes nearly 10000 sets of wheelsets orders from Indian state-owned truck manufacturer Braithwaite, and has secured over 5300 sets of Vande Bharat high-speed train wheelsets supply contracts worth approximately 21.5 billion rupees. With the landing of the new Audi Subang factory, India is expected to gradually break free from the constraints of high-end wheelset imports and participate in global supply chain restructuring with cost and scale advantages.Editor/Yang Meiling