TAKRAF India completes ‘major revamp’ of bucketwheel excavators at NLC India

TAKRAF Group says its India division has completed all orders for a major revamp of Special Mining Equipment (SME) for NLC India Limited (NLCIL).

This achievement, it says, reinforces its long-standing partnership and engineering excellence in support of one of India’s largest power producers.

NLCIL, incorporated in 1956, is a public sector company of the Government of India and one of the country’s largest lignite and power producers and operates three open-pit mines with a total installed capacity of 28.5 Mt/y at Neyveli, Tamilnadu, India.

In July 2024, TAKRAF India was awarded two major refurbishment contracts for 700-litre bucketwheel excavators (BWEs) at NLCIL’s Mine I and Mine IA. This was part of a larger package of four orders for eight machines for revamping and maintenance. After the recommissioning of the first 700-litre BWE in September 2025, the second machine was successfully recommissioned on 15 December 2025. BWE 1574 is now operational at NLCIL’s Mine I. This milestone completes the execution of all four orders.

The refurbished BWE 1574, originally commissioned in 1989, has accumulated more than 170,000 operating hours during its 36-year service life. To ensure continued safe and efficient operation, NLCIL opted for a comprehensive major refurbishment, TAKRAF explained.

The project execution by TAKRAF India covered the full lifecycle from engineering to recommissioning and included the replacement of critical structural and mechanical components. The refurbishment was completed within the planned 12-month schedule.

As part of the modernisation program, the bucket-wheel excavator was upgraded with advanced technologies, including:

• Structural stability verification and design reassessment;
• Upgraded drive power ratings;
• Replacement of obsolete components with state-of-the-art systems;
• PLC (Programmable Logic Controller) implementation;
• VVVF (Variable Voltage Variable Frequency) drives;
• HMI (Human-Machine Interface) systems;
• Real time operator interface;
• AFDQS (Automatic Fire Detection and Quenching System); and
• Wireless systems and cloud-based remote monitoring solutions.

All upgrades comply with current DMS (Design & Manufacturing Safety) norms and are expected to extend the operational life of the machine by approximately 15 years, TAKRAF says.

The recommissioning of BWE 1574 was conducted in the presence of senior representatives from NLCIL and TAKRAF India. The BWE was renamed KING CHOZHA BWE 1574, marking its entry into a new operational phase. This achievement underscores TAKRAF India’s strong execution capability, backed by the global technical strength of TAKRAF Germany, and highlights its commitment to delivering tailored engineering solutions, the company says.

“The successful completion of all four refurbishment projects for NLCIL reflects the trust our client places in our expertise and collaborative strength,” Rajagopalan Ramanathan, Managing Director of TAKRAF India, said. “We are honoured by this partnership and look forward to continuing our support for NLCIL’s mining operations with high-performance, reliable equipment.”