In a major policy shift, Railways may procure ready-made trains from private firms
The move to procure ready-made train sets from private companies could result in job losses at existing production facilities and ancillary units
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The Indian Railways is looking to purchase train sets from private players instead of manufacturing them in-house, according to a report by The Hindu. This would be a major shift in policy.
As per the report, the idea of procuring train sets, Electric Multiple Unit (EMUs) and Mainline Electric Multiple Unit (MEMU) from the industry was mooted at a high-level meeting that included Railways Minister Piyush Goyal, Minister of State of Railways Suresh Angadi, top officials and manufacturers of trains/coach components.
The Railways Minister made it clear that any such procurement should be done in accordance with the government's ‘Make in India' policy, the report adds. Moneycontrol couldn't independently verify the report.
At present, there are three manufacturing units that roll out trains for the Railways -- the Integral Coach Factory (ICF) in Chennai (Tamil Nadu), Modern Coach Factory in Rae Bareli (Uttar Pradesh) and the Rail Coach Factory, Kapurthala (Punjab).
It is not the first time that ready-made train sets will be procured in India. Most metro systems in the country have deployed ready-made rakes manufactured by private firms. For example, Delhi Metro uses rolling stock from Hyundai Rotem, CAF, among others. Mumbai Metro currently uses rolling stock from CRRC Nanjing Puzhen. The metro rakes in Chennai are produced by French rail vehicle giant Alstom, which has a production facility in Sri City, Andhra Pradesh.
The move to procure ready-made train sets from private companies could result in job losses at its existing production facilities and ancillary units.
The ministry had also directed ICF and MCF to cancel all ongoing tender processes for manufacture of the flagship Vande Bharat Express rakes.
Earlier this month, Goyal said there was no proposal to privatise Indian Railways.
Original Source: https://www.moneycontrol.com/news/india/in-a-policy-shift-railways-may-procure-ready-made-trains-from-private-firms-4204311.html