The Indian Railways plans to cut foreign exchange spend on importing components and systems for the railways by encouraging indigenization, including a part of it through global technology transfer.

“Around ₹10,000 crore is spent on overseas imports per year of which nearly ₹2,200 crore is for components,” Manoj Sinha, Minister of State for Railways said.

“We want to cut the import of components by around 20% over the next two years as those produced here are both cheaper and of good quality,” he said, adding that local manufacture of small components and other equipment will not only cut the import bill but also create employment in India

Sinha was speaking to reporters after inaugurating a high tech locomotive component manufacturing facility at the Bharat Forge Centre for Advanced Manufacturing in Baramati, around 110 km from Pune.

This state-of-the-art facility will focus on developing critical and sophisticated components and products for the Railway sector globally.

The Indian Railways have earlier announced the setting up of two plants in Bihar for making locomotives, one involving a transfer of technology joint venture with Alstom.

Sinha said that the land for the ₹10,000 crore project had been acquired and the first tender documents were being prepared.

Earlier, delivering his address, he said that since independence, railway infrastructure had grown 2.25 times, while passenger and freight traffic had grown by nine and seven times respectively.

To fill the gap, the railways will build 20,000 km of new railway line over the next five years, including 10,000 km through gauge conversion.

With respect to rolling stock, he indicated that the government plans to undertake heavy procurement over a prolonged period. The plan is to grow the freight traffic that is being handled today by at least 2.5 times, Sinha said.

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