French multinational rolling stock manufacturer Alstom is set to supply 14 high-power locomotives to the Indian Railways through its Madhepura plant by the end of March. Meanwhile, the mobility major is also looking to export its locomotives from India to other markets. Alstom has already delivered 76 locomotives to the national transporter.
The Madhepura Electric Locomotive Private Ltd is a joint venture between the French company and the Indian Railways. The Railways will receive 800 heavy-haul locomotives from the manufacturers as per a contract signed between the two parties in 2015.
Senior vice president of Alstom Asia Pacific Ling Fang told BusinessToday.in, “We have already delivered 76 locomotives to the Indian Railways and have successfully ramped up the capacity of the Madhepura locomotive factory. We will deliver 90 more locomotives to the Indian Railways by the end of this month.”
The Madhepura locomotive plant which is based in Bihar will produce the first 800 locomotives for captive use of the Indian Railways. The 12,000 horsepower locomotives can haul up to 6000 tonnes at a maximum speed of 120 kmph and will be put to use on the dedicated freight corridors that the Indian Railways is developing.
In fact, the already supplied locomotives have been put into service on the 306 km Rewai-Madar section of the Western Dedicated Freight Corridor (DFC) along with the 351 km Khurja-Bhaupur section of the Eastern DFC.