Titagarh Wagons in pact with FreightCar

Kolkata-based wagon manufacturer, Titagarh Wagons, today signed a joint venture agreement with FreightCar America for manufacturing wagons.

Umesh Chowdhury, managing director, Titagarh Wagons said, a new company would be formed where FreightCar would hold a 51 per cent stake and the balance would be with Titagarh Wagons. The joint venture agreement was signed today at Writers Building, the state secretariat.

Sources said, the investment was likely to be in the region of Rs 120-160 crore. Around 100 acres had been identified near the Kalyani expressway. Last year, GE Equipment Services and GE Commercial Finance, part of General Electric Company, picked up a 15 per cent stake in Titagarh Wagons.

Titagarh Wagons is in the business of manufacturing railway wagons, bailey bridges, heavy earth moving and mining equipment, steel and iron castings.

Chowdhury said, GE finances a lot of FreightCar's wagons globally. The wagons to be manufactured by the joint venture would be lightweight and work on the prototype would commence soon. The wagons would leased to the Indian Railways.

"Last year in the budget it was announced that private players could design wagons, and this would be a new type of lightweight wagon," he explained.

Chowdhury said, negotiations with the West Bengal Industrial Development Corporation (WBIDC) for land would now be initiated.