Titagarh Wagons Ltd (TWL) on Saturday decided to wind-up its joint venture — Titagarh FreightCar Pvt Ltd — with the Chicago-headquartered FreightCar America, Inc (FCA). FreightCar had a 51 per cent stake in the venture .
Incorporated in January 2008, the venture was slated to manufacture aluminium coal-carrying rail wagons. According to a TWL release, the venture has been called off in view of the prolonged delay in obtaining regulatory approval from the Indian Railways.
According to an announcement to the Bombay Stock Exchange, TWL and FCA have agreed to dissolve their Indian joint venture following a delay in obtaining approval from the Research Designs and Standards Organisation (RDSO), an Indian Railways arm.
“…It became clear that approval from the RDSO would not be obtained in an acceptable timeframe,” the statement noted.
In June last year, Titagarh FreightCar had notified RDSO that it would not pursue a request for design approval any further.
“We had big plans for the joint venture company when it was incorporated in 2008. However, those plans were not realised despite considerable effort,” Umesh Chowdhary, Vice-Chairman and Managing Director, TWL, was quoted saying.
ayan.pramanik@thehindu.co.in