Titagarh Wagons to expand into metro coach-making

Railway coach-manufacturing company Titagarh Wagons today announced its expansion into the metro coach business.

Titagarh had recently it bagged a contract for the rehabilitation of 56 coaches (7 rakes) from the Kolkata Metro Railway. The scope of the job involves midlife special repair and rehabilitation of the rakes, the company said in a statement.

Umesh Chowdhary, vice chairman and managing director of the company, told newspersons in Mumbai, "It is a very important milestone for the group, as it marks our entry into the metro coach business segment.

''While our ultimate objective is to find a suitable technology partner and add to the present portfolio of products and undertake manufacturing of metro coaches and other modern passenger coaches, this order provides us with a stepping stone into this segment of business. With this initial contract in place, we will intensify our efforts and establish our meaningful presence in this segment."

Although a small-scale company, Titagarh is already into manufacturing passenger coaches through Electrical Multiple Units, and are currently executing an order for 23 rakes of AC EMU / MEMU for Indian Railways, the company said.

"We have substantially upgraded our facilities in Uttarpara, and are continuously improving it further to make ourselves fully prepared for manufacturing all sorts of passenger coaches including metro coaches and others," Chaudhury said.

"Since the Railway orders for wagons have been extremely depressed, the company had to suffer a substantial drop in performance last year. However, the new initiatives taken up by the company including the entry into passenger coaches and metro coaches would not only de-risk the company from being in one segment of the wagons business, but also provide immense growth opportunities,'' he told shareholders.