Switzerland-headquartered Stadler Rail AG has come forward to set up a locomotive and rail coach manufacturing unit in Visakhapatnam district, the Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister's Office today said.
Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu, who is on a visit to Switzerland, met Stadler executives in Zurich.
The CMO, in a release on Chandrababu's visit to Zurich, however, came out with a misleading statement that Stadler already has a manufacturing unit in Kanchrapara, West Bengal and that the proposed Visakhapatnam unit would be its second in India.
"The Chief Minister, during his talks with Stadler executives, invited them to set up their manufacturing unit in AP and they consented to it," the release claimed.
It quoted Stadler Executive Vice-President Peter Jenelten as telling the Chief Minister that they already have a manufacturing unit in West Bengal and another one would be set up in Visakhapatnam for manufacturing spare parts.
"We have plans to expand (our operations) in India and the USA. We plan to make India the southeast Asian hub for manufacturing rail coaches and locomotives," the release quoted Peter as telling Chandrababu.
Stadler is an established company in manufacture of rail coaches and locomotives but it doesn't have any unit in India as claimed by the CMO. Even the company's website does not contain any mention of its Indian operations so far.
It is one of the major global players that evinced interest in the manufacture of EMU/MEMU coaches at the proposed Kanchrapara facility under the ambitious Rs 20,000 crore joint venture project of the Railways.
Railways is expected to award the contract only in May and Stadler is not the only player in contention.
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