The Railways has drawn up a blueprint to become an exporter of wheels and on Friday a tender was floated to build a wheel plant which would manufacture at least 80,000 wheels every year, Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said on Friday.

This is for the first time that the Railways has floated a tender to invite private players to build a wheel plant and make wheels for high speed trains in India, he said.

Indian Railways needs two lakh wheels per year. According to the plan, while Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL) will provide one lakh wheels, the rest will be provided by a new 'Make in India' plant.

Addressing a press briefing, Vaishnaw said the tender will be awarded on the condition that the plant will be exporter of wheels too and the export market will be Europe. The tender mandates that the plant has to be set up within 18 months, Vaishnaw said.

The wheels of the Vande Bharat train were stuck in war-torn Ukraine and had to be airlifted to meet the timelines set for their production.