The Minister of State for Steel, Vishnu Deo Sai has informed that Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL) expects to supply 10 lakh tonnes of steel in 2018-19 and 12 lakh in 2019-20 to the Indian Railways for doubling of rail lines, gauge conversion, new lines and track renewal works. Railways have indicated its demand of approximately 14 lakh tonne during 2018-19 and 17 lakh tonne in 2019-20. SAIL has established Universal Rail Mill (URM) in its Bhilai Steel Plant to enhance the manufacturing capabilities of Rails to cope up with increasing demand of railway requirements. The production from the 1.2 MTPA capacity URM has commenced from November, 2016.
Bhilai Steel Plant undertook modernisation and expansion plan along with other integrated steel plants under SAIL with capacity enhancement of crude steel from 3.93 MTPA to 7.0 MTPA. This included the installation of URM.