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Union Minister of Railways Ashwini Vaishnaw has said that sixty to seventy years after being an importer of forged wheels used in the railways, India is all set to become an exporter of the train component. He said that construction activities for setting up a plant to produce forged wheels for the railways has commenced in Tamil Nadu.

The minister said ‘the wheels that we use in the wagons undergo a casting process. The factory to produce the forged wheels is now being set up. Construction has started’. He also said the plant will have the capacity to produce 2.5 lakh wheels, of which 80,000 will be used in India and the remaining 1.70 lakh will be exported.

Similarly, Vaishnaw said the Integral Coach Factory here would also develop standard gauge Vande Bharat trains. He said 'standard gauge rakes are used all over the world. So, when we are thinking of exporting Vande Bharat trains few years down the line, we must have the development of standard gauge Vande Bharat trains today’. He added that designing and testing of standard gauge Vande Bharat trains need to be done, after which national and international approvals need to be obtained before they can be formally launched.