French Firm Alstom delivers 100th Electric Locomotive to Indian Railways

Alstom, a French multinational rolling stock manufacturer successfully manufactured and delivered its 100th Electric Locomotive to the Indian Railways.The Locomotives are manufactured at Madhepura plant in Bihar. The plant is India’s largest integrated greenfield manufacturing facility.

• It is part of the  3.5 Billion Euro (~ INR 25,000 Crore – during time of signing(2015)) contract signed between the Ministry of Railways, India & Alstom in 2015 for delivery of 800 fully electric high-powered double-section locomotives of 12,000 HorsePower (HP) (9 MW).
• It is the Largest Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) Project in the Indian Railway sector.
• With this, India became the 6th country to produce high HP locomotives indigenously.

Key Points

• The 12, 000 HP Electric Locomotives are the most powerful made-in-India electric locomotives.
• Some key commodities moved by these e-locos include coal, cement, food grains, fertilisers, petrochemical products, minerals and post or parcels across 17 states & 2 Union Territories.
• The locomotives also made inaugural runs on the 1st fully operational sections of the Dedicated Freight Corridors in December 2020.
• The introduction of faster trains has increased the average speed of transportation by 83% in India.

Components of the Agreement

i.As part of the agreement, a Joint Venture namely Madhepura Electric Locomotive Private Ltd was also established.

• It would act as a manufacturing plant for electric locomotives.
• In addition, two maintenance depots in Uttar Pradesh’s Saharanpur and Maharashtra’s Nagpur were set up.
• The agreement also includes associated maintenance for a period of 11 years.

About Alstom

Chairman of Board of Directors & CEO – Henri Poupart-Lafarge
Global HeadQuarters (HQ)- Saint-Ouen, France
Indian HQ – Bangalore, Karnataka

About Indian Railways

Chairman & CEO of Railway Board– Suneet Sharma
Headquarters – New Delhi