Alstom fails to meet deadline of supply of electric locomotives to Railways

New Delhi (Urban Transport News): Indian Railways may terminate the contract signed with french Rolling stock manufacturer Alstom SA due to non-fulfillment of the contract terms and failure to meet deadlines of the project delivery. Alstom has to supply a total of 35 electric locomotives to the Indian Railways in the current financial year, but the company has not been able to supply any locomotives yet. "Alstom hasn’t been able to supply any engines yet, with the locomotives having failed multiple trial runs. Prima facie, if a design condition is not met and a period (specified for delivery) expires, contract cancellation becomes the automatic route", said a senior railway official who described the Alstom-Indian Railways joint venture as 'failure', ET reported. As a part of 'Make in India' initiative of Narendra Modi-led government, the Electric Locomotive Factory at Madhepura in Bihar was one of the two major locomotive projects awarded in 2015. The second project was being a joint venture with General Electric (GE). Under the Rs 20,000 crore electric locomotive project at Madhepura, Indian Railways has set a target to manufacture 800 high-powered locomotives over a period of 11years to increase the speed of trains on Indian tracks at 120 km/h. Alstom-Indian Railway joint venture is the largest foreign direct investment (FDI) in the railway sector in the country. Alstom started the manufacturing of electric locomotive in October 2017. In March 2018, Alstom announced the completion of its first all-electric locomotive from its state-of-the-art locomotive facility where Indian Railways has 26% stacks. The Research Designs and Standards Organisation (RDSO) conducted two trials of the WAG12 locomotive —the first on July 23-25 last year and the second on April 10-12 this year. However, Alstom is still in the process of making changes to the specifications of the electric locomotive. In April 2018, Prime Minister Narendra Modi dedicated India's first high-speed WAG-12 12,000 horsepower electric locomotive at Madhepura Factory. According to the target, the delivery of the first 5 locomotives is scheduled to be completed by 2019 followed by 35 locomotives by March 2020, 60 in 2021, and by 100 every year till the target of 800 is reached.

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In response to our story originally published on November 13, the Ministry of Railway has issued a statement on November 14 and clarified that after tests and trials Alstom will accelerate the delivery schedule and supply 10 locomotives in FY 2019-20. "Alstom has delivered prototype locomotive in March 2018. Based on the test results, Alstom has redesigned the complete locomotive including bogies. The new design of locomotive has been inspected by RDSO at the Madhepura factory and cleared for dispatch from the factory. After tests and trials M/s Alstom will accelerate the delivery schedule and supply 10 locomotives in FY 2019-20 and 90 locomotives in FY 2020-21 and 100 locomotives per year beyond March 2021 as per their recovery plan. This is the first time such High Horse Power locomotive is being tested on Broad Gauge network in the World by any Railways", said in the press statement.

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