Bombardier eyeing railway engine deal

In what could be a significant development in the country's locomotive manufacturing sphere, Bombardier Transportation India Ltd is considering an association with the Indian railways through a public-private partnership to create a local manufacturing unit for locomotives.

If the deal comes through, it will be the first time that a private company is entering the locomotive manufacturing segment in India.

Though the locomotives being made by the railways at its locomotive units are high-end products, the company had preliminary discussions with the railway ministry to explore the possibility of manufacturing and supplying the latest state-of-the-art locomotives, said Bombardier India's President and Managing Director, Rajeev Jyoti.

Currently, locomotives are manufactured by the railways at its units in Varanasi in UP and Chittaranjan in West Bengal.

Jyoti said since the ministry had asked for the public-private partnership model, the process had to be transparent. Keeping this in mind, the ministry is preparing the modalities of the contract.

Bombardier is particularly interested in the rail freight corridor being developed by the railways, which requires 600 new high-powered locomotives. Jyoti clarified that no official discussions had taken place with Rail Bhavan.

However, since Bombardier makes high-powered locomotives, there could be a possibility of it supplying these to the railways.

Bombardier has also shown interest in the airport link phase of the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation.

When asked whether it would be partnering Reliance Energy for bidding for the stretch, Jyoti said it was too early to say anything because the pre-bid meeting was scheduled for the end of the month.

However, he said, for this project, the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation would be doing all the civil work itself, while track maintenance, signalling, locomotive maintenance and all other work would be doneby the concessionaire.

The airport link is a 19.5 km stretch, which will have four stops. Delhi Metro Rail is looking at locomotives with a speed of 100 km an hour. Currently, locomotives have a speed of 70 km per hour.

Bombardier is, in fact, focussing on mass transit projects. It has already submitted expressions of interest along with Reliance Energy for Chandigarh and Hyderabad mass transit projects.

With a 46 per cent market share in Europe, Bombardier is the largest producer of locomotives there. It reported revenues worth $14.7 billion for the fiscal ending January 31, 2006.