Rail regulator to de-stress Indian railways: Siemens India executive V-P

Rail has a dual role as commercial enterprise and a social responsibility, says Tilak Raj Seth

At a time when Indian railways is on a transformational phase through introduction of high-speed trains, faster electrification, doubling and introduction of metro in more cities, Tilak Raj Seth, executive vice-president of Siemens and chief executive officer of its mobility division in India to Shine Jacob about the future of the sector. He also shares the German conglomerate’s growth road map in India, covering various segments like electrification, automation and digitalisation. Edited excerpts:
 
Do you think once the Rail Development Authority is in place, there will be more clarity on pricing and infrastructural projects of Indian Railways?
 
It will certainly contribute to easing some of the pressure the rail sector has. Rail has a dual role as commercial enterprise and a social responsibility. Sometimes, one has to compromise on the other. When the Authority is in place, the railways will have a bit of a de-stressed situation. 

 

In fact, on March 31, the yearly closing, the railways did have revenue more than the previous year and this was only possible because of the discount scheme. The dynamic pricing, discounting helped and freight beyond one billion tonnes, and also higher-passenger revenue. Overall, total revenue was more than the previous year. So, market prudence helps. 
 
Recent years, semi-high speed has been the focus. From your point of view, with the current infrastructure, how realistic will it be for a country like India which have tracks that are very old and bridges that are more than 100 years to think about a semi-high speed route?

 
When rail infrastructure was getting created world over, it was getting created in India at the same time.  Where we have lagged is, over the past 5-7 decades. China in 1950 had 22,000 km and today they have 1,21,000 km. India, in 1950, was 54,000 km and in 2015, we had 66,030 km. You see how much we added. Whatever we want to do, we must utilise this infrastructure. Of course, this infrastructure can’t always be used for high speed but certainly for semi-high speed. Another item is that the network must be inter-operable. Very, very high-speed trains should be able to pass through existing infrastructure at the order of the semi-high speed. 

 
Coming to the Siemens mobility business, as far as the Indian market is concerned, what are your expectations?
 
We operate in all elements of the mobility and transport business now. On Indian Railways, we are everywhere in terms of propulsion equipment for locomotives, electric multiple units (EMUs), mainline signalling, electronic interlocking, electrification components. We are very happy that Indian Railways is regularly upgrading and strengthening its network and rolling stock. The Railways also has ambitious plans of adding more EMUs: The Kanchrapara project, and DFCC (Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation). That’s the main line. On the metros, we are again in all the elements, starting with signalling. We have now got award of the Nagpur Metro signalling and electrification, like you mentioned yourself. We are practically there in every major city. We are doing 50 per cent of Delhi Phase III, Kolkata, Chennai and Greater Noida and participating in the next bid phase of various other projects. We are also doing signalling for, as mentioned Nagpur, but also for Chennai and also one of the lines in Delhi.

 
India has a huge potential of Rs 8.5-lakh crore investment coming in. What are your investment plans for the country?
 
We are regularly investing because  there are 23 factories. I don’t think there are many people who can claim 23 factories. We are continuously investing and expanding our footprint as required.
 
You compared India to China. You were involved in the Maglev Project in China. What is your take on the Maglev technology set to be introduced in India?
 
The Maglev technology belongs to Siemens-cum-ThyssenKrupp and this was done by a company of Siemens and ThyssenKrupp together called Trans Rapid. We feel that speeds of 350 km per hour can be managed techno-economically best by rail wheel high-speed (conventional) and speeds more than this do not give any time advantage for rail-wheel or any other. Higher speeds than this can only be of the nature of aviation. Then you’re covering high speed sections beyond

 
500-600 km per hour. We feel 350 kmph is a limit; you know Maglev can go beyond 350 but it can never reach speeds achieved by aviation. To have 400 kmph or 500 kmph, it doesn’t really make any sense.