Bombardier, Alstom in fray for Rlys` unit in Madhepura Bihar

Global electric locomotive manufacturers - Bombardier Transportation, Alstom and Siemens from Europe and Kawasaki, Toshiba, Mitsubhishi and Mitsui from Japan - have shown interest in participating in the Indian Railways' ambitious Rs 2,000 crore project to set up an electric locomotive factory at Madhepura, Bihar.

The project will be implemented on a private-public partnership basis. The Railways will pick up a maximum of 26 per cent equity stake in a special purpose vehicle to be floated for the purpose. The remaining equity will come from the foreign partner.

The initial capital cost of the factory, as estimated by the Indian Railways, is Rs 1,000 crore. But industry experts say that the actual cost could go up in the range of Rs 2,000 to Rs 2,500 crore factoring in to account the increase in the prices of critical components like steel, iron, cement, fuel among others.

The top international companies were all present in a pre-application conference, which was held at Rail Bhawan on Friday.

Rajeev Jyoti, MD, Bombardier Transportation, said, "We are very eager to associate with the project. Since the agreement will be for a long-term basis, we will have to carefully evaluate the commercial, legal and technical aspects before participating in the bidding process."

Similarly, a top executive of Alstom Transportation, who did not want to be named, also expressed interest in participating in the proposed project. The factory will be set up on a build, own and operate (BOO) basis for the production and supply of a minimum of 660 locomotives over a period of eight years. and undertake maintenance thereof for a period of up to 20 years.

The Indian railways will be subscribing to its equity for up to a maximum of 26 per cent of the issued and paid up equity capital of the company,subject to a maximum of Rs 100 crore.

A Rail Bhawan official said that the project is receiving a good response from global locomotive manufacturers and they are expecting a minimum of 5-6 major players in the final bidding process.

The due date for the application of request for qualification (RFQ) is on July 18, 2008 and the shortlisting of applicants will be done within 15 days from the application due date.

With the commissioning of the project, railway officials say that the Indian railway will be upgrading its technology to the next generation, where the new locomotive which will have 12,000 horsepower will have the capacity to pull a higher pay load at a much higher speed of 100 km per hour. This will enable the Indian Railways to cut down their operational and maintenance cost.

thereby increasing productivity. Currently, Railways operate electric locomotives with 6000 horsepower capacity having a speed of 80 km per hour.

Readers write- Demand for New ALTERNATE Railway Route between Delhi to Guwahati

I appreciate your gesture to invite the suggestions/ comments of the readers. It was very interesting to read the comments of the viewer.

I read with great interest the news of Railway - Mega projects and addition of new lines and others.

Please recall in the last Railway Budget the Minister had shown his mind regarding the cost cutting and which will increase the profit of railway.Whenever I see the Map of Railway, which is not so much systematic .

I would have laid straightway particularly between All Metro Cities. Now like GQ
(Golden Quadrilateral) and EW( East-West) corridors, the railway should also work on reducing the distance between metro cities and capital of states.


The railway must exercise the to shorten the distance between New Delhi -Guwahati by completing the railway bridge and railway line expeditiously.Now passengers / trains and moving up and down from Delhi to Guwahi via Patna - Katihar Jalpaiguri . If Mr Lalu ji complete the work of railway line via Gorakshpur - Sitamarhi - Jay Nagar - Kosi Bridge, Forbesganj and Jalpaiguri - this track should have special track and speedy engine so that train can cross this distance not more 24 hours.

At present most of the trains take 36 hours and flight takes two hours - big difference. Resulting into saving of money of passengers and cost cutting of goods
freight.

Please incorporate the above in your news box and make request to Railway Minister to expedite THIS ALTERNATE ROUTE AS SOON AS POSSIBLE.


B.N.Thakur

"Bharat's reformer Lalu " IBN -CNN Special

New Delhi: Laloo Prasad, India's Union Minister for Railways, is now a management guru. No less than students from Harvard and Wharton - two of the world's best business schools have come to seek his advice on management and to ask how he managed to turn around that shambling leviathan known as the Indian Railways and actually manage a revenue surplus of Rs 13,000 crore. Is this social justice private limited?
The emergence of Lalu as free market oriented reformer is enormously significant. After all, if the Indian Railways can be managed well, then why can’t Indian agriculture and even Indian airports? Lalu recently visited IIM Ahmedabad and explained to the students, what it takes to be a good CEO.
So does Lalu Prasad have a unique business model? This was the topic of discussion in India 360.
On the panel of experts was Union Railways Minister Lalu Prasad; former member, Railway Board, V K Agnihotri; FICCI advisor, Anjan Roy; and Pranay Gupta, he is a student of IIM, Ahmedabad.

Sagarika Ghose: Laluji, what did you tell the students from Harvard and Wharton?
Lalu Prasad: I told themm to work hard, sincerely and honestly. If they do that, then there will be no need of privatisation. We have broken the thought that if any industry is sick, hand it over to private sector. Indian Railways has proved it.
Sagarika Ghose: So, do you feel you have a unique business model, a sort of public-private partnership?
Lalu Prasad: The Government has some social obligations and cannot depend entirely on the private sector. So, the Government should manage resources, monitor them and every department should work hard to uplift Indian institutions.
Sagarika Ghose: The Government has important social obligations, but one must admit that private enterprises also do as well. The panelists will now tell us what they feel about Lalu as India's newest economic reformer. Mr Agnihotri, is Lalu Prasad truly an economic reformer? He is running a Government department as a commercial enterprise.
V K Agnihotri: Actually the Indian Railways is a Government department and if all Government rules are followed, you can’t make it like a business situation, where everything is done to get the best for the customer and also to make maximum money for the organisation. So, both things are necessary - customers must be happy and one must also make money at the same time.