Alstom, a leader in power generation and rail infrastructure, has signed two major contracts in India for a total amount of more than €3.7 billion ($3.93 billion).

The first contract is for the supply of 800 electric locomotives and associated maintenance, while the second contract relates to the electrification, signalling and telecommunications system for a part of the Dedicated Freight Corridor (DFC), a major government-led project to build eastern and western freight corridors across the country, which is expected to be completed by 2019.

"We are pleased to sign these contracts which will play a crucial role in boosting India’s economy and infrastructure development while supporting the strong growth of Indian Railways," remarked Dominique Pouliquen, the senior vice president for Alstom Asia Pacific.

"At Alstom, we are committed to addressing the ever-growing market in India by expanding our local footprint and bringing technological expertise and know-how to the country," he said after signing the agreement yesterday (November 30).

The deal was signed in the presence of Arun Jaitley, the Indian Finance Minister, Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu, Minister of Railways, Nirmala Sitharaman, Minister of State for Commerce and Industry, Manoj Sinha, Minister of State for Railways, Henri Poupart-Lafarge, the executive VP of Alstom and Bharat Salhotra, the managing director of Alstom India and South Asia.

Under the first contract, Alstom will supply Indian Railways with 800 electric locomotives and associated long-term maintenance. The locomotives, belonging to Alstom’s Prima range will be 9,000 kW at the wheel rim and will run at speeds of up to 120 km/hour.

Alstom will invest around €200 million ($212 million) in the project, which will be executed by a recently formed JV in which Alstom and Indian Railways respectively hold a 74 per cent and 26 per cent stake, said a statement for the French engineering major.

The scope of the project includes the set-up of a manufacturing plant at Madhepura (Bihar state) where most of the locomotives will be assembled. The delivery of the locomotives will take place between 2018 and 2028.

The project also includes the set-up of two maintenance depots at Saharanpur (Uttar Pradesh state) and Nagpur (Maharashtra state), it stated.

The second contract worth over €200 million was signed with DFCCIL (Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation of India Ltd.) and relates to the electrification, signalling and telecommunications system for a part of the eastern DFC.

The eastern corridor (1,839 km) will run from Ludhiana in Punjab to Dankuni in West-Bengal. The western corridor (1,499 km) will run from Jawaharlal Nehru Port in Mumbai to Tughlakabad in Delhi.

Under this contract, Alstom will provide the electrification, signalling and telecommunications system for the 343-km-long eastern portion of the DFC. As part of the contract, Alstom will also build the stations and provide the control centre.

Both projects will allow faster, safer and heavier freight trains to move across the country, thereby reducing congestion for passenger train services and freight. They will be handled by Alstom in India with the support of Alstom’s sites expertise in France, said the company in its statement.

Alstom said it has several sites in the country including a signalling, telecoms and train engineering unit in the southern city of Bangalore, a metro manufacturing facility in Sri City (in Andhra Pradesh) and a traction systems manufacturing unit in Coimbatore (Tamil Nadu).

Alstom also has strong references in India in the urban segment for cities like Delhi, Bangalore, Jaipur, Chennai, Kochi and Lucknow. -TradeArabia News Service