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Japanese majors, such as Toshiba, Kawasaki Heavy Industries, Mitsubishi Corporation, Mitsubishi Electric and Mitsui are keen on participating in the supply of 200 electric locomotives to Indian Railways for use on the Western Dedicated Freight Corridor and its feeder lines.
Last week, these firms participated in a pre-bid meeting held in the Railway Ministry, said sources. The locomotive project entails designing, manufacturing, supplying, installing, testing and commissioning 700 kW electric locomotives and also constructing a maintenance depot, along with a transfer of technology component.
Japanese firms are keen on the project because the locomotive supplies are a part of the tied loan extended by Japan to fund the Western Dedicated Freight Corridor. The loan condition stipulates that 30 per cent should be procured from Japanese firms.
However, in keeping with the Prime Minister’s ‘Make in India’ mantra, the Railway Ministry has mandated that the winning firm should transfer the technology to at least two vendors in India, one of which should be the Indian Railways’ production unit – Chittaranjan Locomotive Works (CLW).
The tender stipulates that 40 locomotives will be imported from Japan, 30 will be assembled in India from semi- knocked down (SKD) components, and another 30 will be assembled in India from completely knocked down kits.
Another 100 locomotives will be built with indigenised components manufactured by third part vendors in India, of which 40 locomotives will source traction motors, bogies and body shell from CLW’s factories at Dankuni or Chittaranjan.
Apart from having to maintain imported locomotives, the winning bidder will have to maintain 100 locomotives manufactured in India for six years. “This clause will also ensure that the transfer of technology to Indian firms has been done in the best possible way,” said an official.
The Western Dedicated Freight Corridor is being built between Dadri and JN Port, with a ¥136 billion loan from Japanese International Cooperation Agency. The loan, which has a 40-year tenure, was extended at 0.2 per cent. The corridor is expected to handle double-stack container movement.
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