The Hindu Business Line : Foreign firms eye biz from track flaws of Indian Railways

A slew of foreign companies such as Australian firm Rail Training International (RTI), US-based Sperry Rail and Chinese firm Xintao Electronics are eyeing the Indian market with the latest equipment in the specialised space of ultrasonic rail flaw detection.

The need for such devices has gone up with Indian Railways witnessing higher wear and tear on its tracks on account of migrating to heavier axle load wagons during the last few years.

Both RTI and Sperry Rail plan to provide free trials of their mobile ultrasonic rail inspection vehicles to Indian Railways, which will help test upwards of 150 km of tracks per day and generate detailed reports on the rail track conditions.

Sperry Rail has already made inroads into the Indian market and currently provides a service based on ultrasonic rail inspection `walking stick' (a single rail tester or SRT machine), which tests 7- 10 km of tracks per day. Instead of selling the equipment, Sperry sold the service of providing detailed flaw detection reports to Railways.

Sperry Rail, after providing services to the Railways through an Indian firm, has recently set up its own subsidiary in the country - Sperry Rail India. "We have conducted tests for over 32,000 km of Indian Railways tracks during 2005-2007. The company will be doing business for another 40,000 km of tracks," Mr Sanjay Manchandani, Managing Director, Khyati Nilum Associates, the Indian firm that distributes Sperry Rail products, told Business Line.

"We are awaiting Commissioner of Railway Safety approval for the free trial of mobile rail inspection vehicle," said Mr Ramakant Tripathi, Director, ABC Railroad Products, the Indian company that distributes US-based Stanley Works' products (Stanley has acquired Australian firm RTI).

RTI's inspection vehicle, which is being used by several Australian railroads (BHP Billiton, Queensland Rail, Transrail) and other railway systems in Brazil, Taiwan and Malaysia, costs about Rs 3 crore.

ABC Railroad has tied up with Chinese firm Xintao Electronics to sell SRT equipment. Hoping to bag the first orders for Xintao SRT equipment from Indian Railways soon, Mr Tripathi said, "We have emerged as the lowest bidder. But there is a financial requirement of the winning firm having provided 150 per cent of the present contract value to Indian Railways, which no new player (including us) can meet. We are talking to Railway officials on this issue."

Meanwhile, Paras Electronics, an Indian firm that has traditionally provided SRTs and dual rail testers (DRTs) with analog display to Indian Railways, is also upgrading its equipment to take on competition.

"We are upgrading our products," said the firm's Chief Executive, Mr A.V. Shah, pointing out that Paras has supplied 650 SRTs and DRTs.

With Paras' equipment, 2-4 km of rail tracks can be tested each day. Indian Railways plans to replace the analog SRTs and DRTs by installing 300 digital SRT and 200 digital DRT machines over the next five years.

More Stories on : Railways | Standards & Benchmarks

Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication :: Printer Friendly Page

Stories in this Section
Global Vectra to buy 3 choppers

Aerion Corp expects orders worth $400 m from India

Vallarpadam terminal likely to be delayed by six months

Shipping tonnage crosses 9 million gross tonne mark

AAI agitation has little impact on flight schedules

Delivery of cargo hit at Chennai

Strike not to hit operations shift in Hyderabad

Ominous clouds

Rlys freight loadings up 14% in Feb

Foreign firms eye biz from track flaws of Indian Railways

Kolkata-Dhaka train services

Hubli rly divn records growth in earnings

Bangalore airport: Clear picture likely today