Indian Railways have fallen prey to the spiralling steel prices with a large number of ongoing construction projects, particular those relating to bridges, slowing down and contractors threatening to pull out, citing inability to procure steel at the current market rates What has further raised alarm bells at the Rail Bhavan is the fact that not enough players coming forward to bid for new construction projects. Top sources in the Railway ministry told The Indian Express that the ministry has already received reports from many Zonal Railways showing concerns on a host of construction works "suffering' due to the rise in prices of steel. Zonal Railways like Eastern Railways, East Coast Railways and Southern Railways are learnt to have informed the ministry that many important construction projects have hit the speed-breaker with contractors not being able to execute them according to the rates settled in their respective contracts, primarily due to the rise in steel prices. Alarmed over this matter and equally worried over the dismal response to the tenders floated for construction works, the ministry recently summoned all the leading players in the construction business L & T, Gammon and Hindustan Construction Company to name a few in a bid to find a way out of the problem. "Railways are getting very limited response to their construction tenders. While our Plan Size for the Eleventh Plan has almost tripled our Tenth Plan size, from Rs 84,000 crore to Rs 2,50,000 crore, the number of works are also set for a quantum leap. With not enough players coming in, it will be extremely difficult to meet such stiff targets,' a senior Railway official said. During this "Infrastructure Builders Meet' which brought leading players across the table with senior Railway Ministry officials like the Member Mechanical and the Financial Commissioner, most of the players were unanimous in their view that tender conditions should be changed and the formula for price variations should truly neutralise any sudden increases. "These players have further asked Railways to ensure that contract documents are not one-sided and the risk is shared by both Railways and the contractor. Also, they have asked that any statutory changes should be payable by either side as applicable,' the official said.