Alstom fixes targets for Rs.20,000-cr loco factory

The France-based mobility equipment manufacturing major, Alstom expects the first phase of its Rs.20,000-crore electric locomotive manufacturing facility, which will manufacture 800 super high-power locomotives, in Madhepura, Bihar, to be ready by September this year. The company, which is currently exporting rail solutions to Australia from India, is now looking at exports to the Middle East, said Managing Director, Bharat Salhotra. The factory is under construction and phase one is expected to be ready by September of the current year and the player would be rolling out the first locomotive from the plant by early next year. The first train will be put through a rigorous test for thousands of km and the second and third locomotives will also be prototypes, which will undergo a lot of tests. The facility is being set up under a joint-venture between Alstom and Indian Railway starting from locomotive number four, they will be inducted into operations and the company will be manufacturing about 100 locomotives a year at the peak of manufacturing.