FIELD TRAINING OF

IRSME
PROBATIONERS

INDEX
1. WELCOME

2. GUIDING NOTE

3. OVER VIEW
4. SALIENT FEATURES

3-9
10-12

Welcome
RAIL WHEEL FACTORY welcomes IRSMEE probationers to
undergo field training. Rail wheel Factory, a production unit of Indian
Railways, was established in Bangalore in 1984 to cater to the Wheels and
Axles requirement of Indian Railways. It manufactures a variety of railway
wheels, axles and wheel sets for the Indian Railways, Other non-railway
customers as well as the export market.
RWF strives to build successful and lasting relationships with its
customers by consistently exceeding their expectations. Customer focus and
quality remain our watchwords.

GUIDING NOTE
The trainees are required to visit shops as detailed below and shall use personal
protective equipments like helmet , shoes while they are visiting the shops

1.

WHEEL SHOP:
Wheel shop consists of
1. Steel melting Shop.
2. Moulding Room.
3. Wheel Final process shop.

2. AXLE SHOP
Axle shop consists of
1. Axle forge shop
2. Axle machine shop
3. Axle assembly shop

3.

ASSEMBLY SHOP
Assembly shop consists of
1.Wheel seat measuring station.
2.Wheel borer
3.Wheel set press

4.

SERVICE SHOPS
1. Utility shop
2. Electrical ,mechanical Maintenance shop
3. Road Transport Shop

5.

MANAGEMENT INFORMATION SYSTEM

OVER VIEW
RWF PRODUCTION TARGET FOR THE YEAR 2010-2011
Wheels
Axles
Out- sourcing axles
Wheel-sets

: 205200
: 73000(units)
: 18500(units)
: 67000

1. WHEEL SHOP
Wheel shop consists of
1.
Steel Melting Shop.
2.
Moulding Room.
3.
Wheel Final Process Shop.
Wheel manufacturing was set up with complete technology transfer from
M/s Griffin Wheel Company, a subsidiary of Amsted Industries International,
Chicago, USA. RWF manufactures cast steel wheels by controlled pressure pouring
process.
In this process, the raw material used is pedigree scrap (old used Wheel
sets, axles etc, rejected as unfit for use by the railways). The scrap steel is melted in
Electric Arc Furnace. The correct chemistry of molten metal steel is established
through a Spectrometer. The wheels are eventually getting cast in the graphite
moulds, which are preheated and sprayed. After allowing for a pre-determined setting
time the mould is split and the risers are automatically separated from the cast wheel.
The wheel is then subjected to various heat treatments .The wheel
undergoes the process of cleaning, checking, peening and various stages of
inspections.

Wheels are produced as per AAR-M 208 Class C, IRS R-19/93 Part 3 Class A, IRS R19/93 Part 3 Class AV, IRS R-19/93 Part 3 Class B, IRS R-19/93 Part 3 Class BV. The
wheel diameter is in the range of 725 to 1100 mm. The wheel manufacturing process
involves the following main process stations:

Scrap Charging
Steel Melting
Steel Tapping & Movement to the pit
Casting of Wheels
Mould Movement & Splitting
Controlled cooling in Hot Wheel Kiln
Sprue wash stations
Number Stamping Station
Hub Cutting Station
Normalizing furnace
Rim quenching Stations
Tempering Furnace
Hub cooling
Movement to stock
Pick up wheel from Stock and bring it loading point for Apex Grinding
(WFPS)
Apex Grinding
Shot Blasting
Inspection
o Magnaglow
o Ultrasonic
o Hardness Testing
Cope /Drag side of wheel grinding
Warpage Testing
Shot Peening
Hub Bore Machining
Final Inspection
Stocking

2.

AXLE SHOP
Axle shop consists of
1. Axle forge shop
2. Axle machine shop
3. Axle assembly shop

RWF makes axles for locomotives, coaches, wagons, crane & EMUs as
per following specification of RDSO
a. IRSR43-1992: Axles for Diesel and Electric locomotives, EMU motor
coaches
b. IRS-R16-1995: Axles for Carriages and Wagons.
The axle blooms are procured from
1.
ASP blooms
2.
MUSCO
3.
TISCO
4.
VISL
5.
MSF
6.
FGK
7.
BAS
The plant converts steel blooms to axles through a series of forging and
heat treatment. Blooms cut to the required sizes are heated in Rotary arc Furnace
upto 12000 c. These are carried to the precision long forging machine where the
hammers convert billets into the required shapes through computerized control
programmes. The forging machines having multiple hammers are used to get required
sizes of forgings. After end cutting, the rough forged axles are subjected to heat
treatment in normalizing and tempering furnaces.
Rail wheel factory is having three axle machining lines to convert these
forgings to the axles .RWF converts BOXN and Coaching axles to wheel sets. Loco
axles are generally sent in rough turned condition to the production units and
Railways workshops for converting to wheel sets. The axle machining process in line3 controlled by SIEMENS 840D CNC machines involves the following main process:
a.
b.
c.
d.

Cup Turning, Centering and milling

Rough turning lathe
Drilling, Counter sinking, Tapping and Recentering
Semi finishing and finishing of axle journal, dust guard, body, wheel seat and
burnishing of the wheel seat.
e. Journal and dust guard grinding machines

3.

RWF is having a highly automated wheel set assembly complex supplied by M/s
Simmons machine Tool Corporation, USA. Wheel set assembly comprises of following
statements.
i. Wheel seat measuring station.
ii. Wheel borer
iii. Wheel set press
Wheel seat sizes of machined axles are measured and wheels received
from wheel shop are bored to this. The precision borers required interference with the
individual axles. After boring, the wheels are carried through automated conveyors to
the assembly complex along with axles and wheels are pressed one after another.
Finally, the wheel sets are offered for final inspection and dispatch.

4.

SERVICE SHOPS

Utility shop caters to the needs of oxygen, HSD oil, compressed air required in the
production process.
Road Transport shop caters to needs of industrial vehicles and transport vehicles with
maintenance facilities.
Electrical Mechanical Maintenance shop caters to the needs of repair of machinery
parts.

5.

MANAGEMENT INFORMATION SYSTEM

Rail Wheel Factory is equipped with an online Information Management System (IIMS)
covering all major areas viz., Manufacturing Management System,
Maintenance Management System, Purchase Management System, Depot
Management System. The IIMS has been developed using the modern
software technology (.Net) with the MS SQL server 2005 as Database
Server. The system is deployed on a Local Area Network having around
268 LAN nodes spread all over the Administrative office and Plant area
service through a switched network with Fiber Optic Backbone and
UTP/STP connectivity on the client side. The system is powered by
Windows 2003 operating system implemented on state of art IBM x3850 4
way dual core processor server implemented on a cluster environment. In
addition, RWF hospital is also equipped with a computerized Hospital
Management System. An independent Railnet connectivity of 2 MBps
through RailTel has been provided to Administrative building, east colony
and West colony comprising 200 connections.
To gear ourselves to meet the advent of Internet as a media of communication and to
bring about transparency in working, the RWF website is designed with the following
important features.
MIS centre is essentially monitoring production highlights online basis and break
down , despatch information which is very much acting as vigilant tool for
monitoring production performance on a day today basis besides other functions like
stores , personnel and welfare are also available in the system

SALIENT FEATURES
QUALITY ASSURANCE:

Customer delight is the key for assured industrial survival and growth.
Realizing the global trend, RWF in tune with other industries, has adopted
various quality systems of international standards.
In November 1994, RWF became the first Production Unit of Indian
Railways to adopt ISO-9002 Quality Management System and to get
certified by BVQI, which is an internationally renowned certifying body.
When this standard was upgraded to ISO-9001: 2000 Quality Management
System, again RWF was the first Production unit of Indian Railways to get
certified by BVQI in March 2001, within a few months of the introduction
of the new standard.
RWF has marched towards bringing in Total Quality Management culture in
the organization with a vision to become a world-class manufacturer of
railway wheels, axles and wheel sets. In this direction, continuous
improvement in the quality of the products manufactured, services offered,
employees welfare, environment and customer delight has been taken as the
main thrust areas.
In line with the total quality management policy, RWF realized its
responsibility towards society for controlling environmental pollution and
conserving resources. RWF had set for itself a goal to contain environmental
pollution by developing and implementing ISO-14001 Environmental
Management Systems (EMS) standards. In June 1999, RWF yet again
became the first Railway Unit to obtain ISO-14001 Environment
Management System certification by BVQI. This standard was
upgraded to ISO-14001: 2004 during September 2005, followed by
regular re-certifications.

Like its responsibility towards environment, RWF puts maximum emphasize

on employees safety and health. Since the production process of RWF is
inherently hazardous, RWF envisaged implementation of OHSAS 18001
(Occupational Health and Safety Assessment series). The certification was
complete in February 2005 and again became the first Railway Production
Unit to obtain OHSAS-18001 during February 2005 followed by regular recertifications.
With a vision to have a permanent presence in the global market, RWF has
got itself certified by the Association of American Railroads (AAR) as
approved manufacturer of railway wheels and axles conforming to AAR
Quality Assurance Program M-1003 used in American Railroad
Interchange Services. This certification was first obtained in November 1995
followed by regular re-certifications.
In our efforts towards environmental protection and creating environmental
friendly ambience, the project for acquiring ISO-14001 Certification from an
International Agency for RWF Colony, Hospital and KV was started in the
last quarter of 2002-03. RWF Colony was certified for 14001:1996
Standards and the certificate was handed over by the Chairman of M/s.
International Certification Services, Mumbai, to GM during the 48th
Railway Week function on 15th April, 03.
Yet another feather to RWF was the GREENTECH ENVIRONMENT
EXCELLENCE AWARD received in December 2003. The Institute of
Indian Foundry men conferred upon a Special Appreciation Award for
excellence as a Foundry during 2003 to RWF on 6th February at Hyderabad.
RWF was honored with the Rajiv Gandhi Parisara Prashasthi Award
2003 of Karnataka State Government for Environment on 5 th June 2004 at
Bangalore. RWF was also honored with the Greentech Safety Gold Award
for 2003-04 in Engineering Sector on 21st June 2004 at Goa.
RWF was honoured with the Golden Peacock Award for Corporate Social
Responsibility for the year 2004 on 9th November 2004 at Delhi. RWF was
honoured with the Golden Peacock Award for Quality for the year 2004
on 15th January 2005. RWF was honoured with the Golden Peacock Award
for Health and safety for the year 2008 on 30.10.2008.

DEVELOPMENT OF NEW WHEELS

1000 DIA 25T AXLE LOAD WHEEL:
Railway Board envisaged to have RWF wheels on heavy axle load wagons
for DFC. RWF has finalized the chemistry, wheel design has been provided
by RDSO. RWF has sent 12 wheels and 30 brake blocks to M/s.TTCI for
validation tests of the designs. Result is awaited.
TECHNOLOGY CENTRE:Member Mechanical, advised RWF to set up a technology centre, which
would act as a repository of knowledge and think tank for RWF. The
technology center has since been set up under an experienced SAG Officer.
The centre is to document all the production processes; the improvisations
RWF has carried out in the last 25 years, maintenance practices, search for
new technologies/processes, put in place better maintenance system. The
centre has already documented the entire wheel shop production processes,
axle shop processes and assembly shop processes.

Office of the SSE

Technical training centre
Date: 17/01/2011
IRSME TRAINING PROGRAMME 2010-2011
Action taken
1) CD prepared for study material
2) Schedule of training from 24.01.2011 to 28.01.2011 prepared:
Training Schedule:
24.01.2011
25.01.2011
27.01.2011
28.01.2011

Corporate film General visit to Factory

Study of process and manufacturing of wheel shop
Study of process and manufacturing of axle shop
Study of activities MIS, PCO
&
Relieving (AN)

SSE/TTC

PRINCIPAL /TTC