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Mamuni Das

New Delhi, Aug. 10 With the railway industry on an upsurge the world over, some of the Indian companies with expertise in rail signalling and track laying — set up and led by former Indian Railway officials — are witnessing growth driven by both domestic and international orders.

The global rail signalling market is estimated to be $7 billion annually, with a growth of 7-8 per cent, according to industry estimates.

McML, a Bangalore-headquartered company, which was set up in 1999 with a staff of two, has now expanded to employ 747 people.

“We started as a railway signalling contract company focusing on domestic orders. Now we have acquired expertise in railway signalling designs for the systems used in Australia, the UK and Malaysia,” said the McML’s Group Managing Director, Mr G. Sreenivasa Rao, a former signalling engineer of Indian Railways.

From a turnover of Rs 34 lakh in 2000-01, the company touched a turnover of Rs 94 crore in 2007-08. About 26 per cent (Rs 25 crore) of the revenues were on account of export earnings.

McML’s client list comprises Indian Railways and Delhi Metro in the domestic market; Network Rail, Thales, First Engineering, Corus Rail, Grant Rail, JACOBS and Westinghouse in the UK; Ansaldo, Calibre Engineum, ARTC, Westinghouse and Maunsell in Australia; KTMB (Malaysian Railways); and Madagascar Railways.

Kalindee Rail Nirman Ltd, another company with expertise in signalling and track laying, which was set up by former railway official, Mr R.D. Sharma, is also benefiting from the trend. “We aim to achieve a turnover of Rs 800 crore by 2010 from Rs 234.65 crore in 2007-08,” Mr Arvind Gemini, Director, Kalindee Rail Nirman, told Business Line.

Kalindee’s client list includes Indian Railways, Konkan Railway, Bharti Telecom, Mumbai Port, Adani Port, Tata Steel, Vedanta Alumina, OCL India (Dalmia Group), and Reliance Energy.

The company is now eyeing opportunities in the dedicated rail freight corridor, and the track laying and fare collection work at Mumbai Metro and Bangalore Metro, amongst others.

Kalindee Rail’s growth has been led by works in the domestic market.

The company says it has received offers from Dubai and Bangladesh, but has not taken up international orders as it has not received “good rates”.

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