China’s high-speed train maker starts India operations
24 Aug 2016
China Railway Rolling Stock Corporation (CRRC), China's largest high speed train maker, has set up a $63.4 million joint venture in India to repair and manufacture railway locomotive engines.
The state-run CRRC is the first foreign company to set up assembly line for rail transportation equipment in India on the lines of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's ambitious 'Make in India' campaign started in 2014, the company said in statement.
The Chinese company holds 51 per cent equity stake in the joint venture, CRRC Pioneer (India) Electric Co Ltd, which started operation in Haryana, with an initial investment of $63.4 million, China's state-run Xinhua news agency reported.
The India plant will repair and manufacture railway locomotive engines.
It will also provide technology support to India's rail system and supply electric transmission systems to oil drilling, wind power generation and mining equipment making in India, the report said.
This is China's first major investment in Indian Railways after the two countries agreed on a multi-pronged collaboration by Chinese companies in India's railway modernisation drive.
Engineers from Indian Railways are also being trained in China in heavy hauling even as China is cooperating with India to set up a railway university similar to its own.
Besides the high speed train, India and China have agreed to cooperate to identify the technical inputs required to increase speed on the existing railway line from Chennai to Mysore via Bangalore.
China is also conducting feasibility study to build a high speed railway line between Chennai and New Delhi.
Japan has bagged the first bullet train project to build a high speed rail line between Ahmedabad and Mumbai.
CRRC Vice President Yu Weiping said the new plant will create jobs and tax revenue for local people and help improve infrastructure.
It will advance cooperation in industrial capacity and local equipment manufacturing, he said.
India has one of the world's largest railway network spanning about 64,000 kilometres.
Since its presence in the Indian market in 2007, CRRC has supplied it with subway trains, locomotive engines and other railway vehicles and parts, the report said.
''Given more than 60,000 kilometres of railways in India, it is far from enough to build a single locomotive engine plant in India,'' Yu said.
''CRRC will build more plants (that are) able to produce trains, locomotive traction systems and other key parts in India,'' he said.
CRRC, formed from the merger of former rivals CNR Corp. and China CSR, has been aggressively reaching out to overseas markets, exporting rail transportation equipment to 101 countries and regions.
CRRC also started operations in North America in September 2015 with an engine plant in Massachusetts, USA.
