Railways to go for JVs to enhance rolling stock

Railways is embarking on public-private joint venture to produce 1,000 units each of diesel and electric locomotives over the next 10 years to enhance their rolling stock, a Railway Board member has said.

Another joint venture to produce rolling stock of self-propelled vehicles at Kancharpara Railway Workshop in West Bengal is also being planned, Praveen Kumar, member, Railway Board (mechanical), told reporters.

Partners for these JVs have been shortlisted among global contenders, he said, adding that they would be among world leaders in the respective product.

Railways has taken these steps to keep up with the steep growth in passenger and freight traffic, Kumar said.

He, however, said more funds were needed for production and maintenance of rolling stock.

In-house production of locomotives had reached optimum level, with diesel locomotive works at Varanasi and Chittaranjan Locomotives in West Bengal producing 250 units each per year.

However, modernisation and expansion of these units are not in the pipeline, he said.

Kumar said Railways added 13,000 freight wagons in 2008 and plans to acquire 18,000 units this year.

To a question on the status of the Rs 1,215 crore (Rs 12.15 billion) coach project coming up at Palakkad in Kerala to manufacture passenger wagons, he said the state government was finding it difficult to acquire the necessary 1,000 acres at the proposed venue.

Hence, Railways has proposed to work out the project on a lesser acreage.

The railway ministry was also working on installing an industrial belt across the length and breadth of India, fully dedicated to freight mobilisation. This is in addition to two freight corridors on the Eastern and Western sectors with funding invited from foreign agencies.

For the Western corridor, Japanese investors have shown keen interest, he said, and hoped that major inputs on infrastructure and operating system of freight loading would be made feasible in the next few years.

Chief mechanical engineer (workshops), Southern Railways, said orders for supply of six refurbished diesel locomotives to Benin Railway Administration in Africa were expected within four weeks.

The locomotives were refurbished at Goldenrock Workshop, which has so far exported 119 metre gauge diesel locomotives to various countries, he said.

Earlier, Kumar flagged off a refurbished meter gauge locomotive to Mozambique. The workshop had carried out 14 modifications in the locomotive as sought by Mozambique.

Three refurbished passenger coaches of Nilgiris Mountain Railway were also dispatched.