OREANDA-NEWS. The formal contract agreement signing ceremony for the two Rs.40,000/- crores High Horse Power HI-TECH best-in-class modern locomotive Joint Venture factory projects (Electric Locomotive Factory at Madhepura and Diesel Locomotive Factory at Marhowra - Bihar) will take place on 30.11.2015 in New Delhi.This signifies a giant leap for the nation’s biggest ever “Make in India” initiative. The signing ceremony will take place in the august presence of Union Minister for Finance, Corporate Affairs and Information & Broadcasting, Shri Arun Jaitley, Minister of Railways, Shri Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu, Union Minister of State for Commerce and Industry Smt. Nirmala Sitaraman, Minister of State for Railways Shri Manoj Sinha. Union Ministers and Members of Parliament hailing from Bihar are also expected to grace the occasion. It is a momentous occasion for Indian Railways as well as for the nation.

On this occasion, Ambassador of USA to India H.E. Mr. Richard R. Verma, Ambassador of France to India H.E. Mr. Francois Richier, Chairman, Railway Board, Shri A.K. Mital, Railway Board Members, Secretary, Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP), GoI Shri Amitabh Kant, both the JV partners(of the two proposed locomotive factories) namely CEO, M/s GE TRANSPORT, USA Ms Jamie Miller; CEO, M/s ALSTOM, FRANCE Mr. Henri Poupart-Lafarge will be among those present.

Earlier this month, Indian Railways achieved an important milestone when it awarded Letters of Acceptance(LoA) for setting up two modern locomotive factories – one Diesel Locomotive Factory (DLF) at Marhowra and the other Electric Locomotive Factory(ELF) at Madhepura, both in Bihar.  These two factories are the excellent example of biggest “Make in India” initiative ever undertaken by Indian Government. While the contract for DLF Marhowra has been awarded to a USA – based Company M/s GE Global Sourcing India Pvt. Limited, the contract for Madhepura ELF has been awarded to a France – based Company M/s Alstom Manufacturing India Limited.  These two factories also mark the flow of FDI in the Railway sector.

DLF Marhowra will manufacture and supply modern diesel electric locomotives of 4500 HP and 6000 HP (which in combination can operate as 9000 HP and 12000 HP multiple units).  ELF Madhepura will manufacture and supply modern electric locomotives of high horse power namely 12000 HP.  Under the agreement, 1000 diesel locos will be manufactured in a period of 11 years with a basic cost of Rs.14,656 crore and 800 electric locos will be manufactured in a period of 11 years at a basic cost of Rs.19904 crore.  Taking into account the cost of setting up factories and maintenance facilities, these two projects together are worth Rs.40,000/- crore.

These modern powerful state of the art locos will be useful for heavy haul freight operations and mega freight operations in the dedicated freight corridor and for pan India operation.These factories would lead to substantial development of ancillary manufacturing units, generation of direct and indirect employment and substantial development in the region. 

These two factories are joint ventures (JV) of the Ministry of Railways.  The fair, transparent and competitive bidding process adopted in selecting the JV partner received wide-spread appreciation from all stakeholders.  These projects will usher in new technologies into the Indian industry at large through high paced indigenization