Indian Economy-News & Updates

[Hindustani78]

Ministry of Railways

13-June, 2017 17:35 IST
Shri Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu, Minister of Railways, launches Mission Retro-Fitment to enhance the passenger experience.



To enhance the passengers experience by upgrading existing fleet of coaches with better furnishing, aesthetics & amenities and better safety features with a view to provide a safe and comfortable travel, Minister of Railways Shri Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu has launched MISSION RETRO-FITMENT in Rail Bhavan today. Member Traffic, Railway Board, Mohd Jamshed, Member Rolling Stock, Railway Board, Shri Ravindra Gupta, Member Staff, Railway Board, Shri Pradeep Kumar were among those present on the occasion.


Speaking on the occasion, Minister of Railways Shri Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu said, “ Mission Retro-Fitment is an ambitious program to upgrade the level of furnishing & amenities in the coaches of Indian Railways. This is one of the largest retro fitment project in the world as Indian Railways’ 40,000 coaches will be refurbished and retrofitted in the next five years. This Mission Retrofitment is an endeavour to provide better travel experience as the interiors of the coaches would be refurbished & the retrofitment of Center Buffer Coupler with balanced draft gear would add more to safety of the passengers. By 2020, Indian Railways would provide a new travel experience to the passenger over Indian Railways. This mission is challenging as it will be carried out without affecting the traffic operation. On the occasion, MR Shri Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu also released a booklet giving parameters & guidelines on this mega exercise of retrofitment and refurbishment.




GUIDELINES OF MISSION RETRO-FITMENT


Refurbishing : Upgradation of Coaches with Improved Interiors


● It has been planned to induct about 40,000 coaches with upgraded interiors by 2022-23.


● RSP sanction for refurbishing of 6,700 coaches are already available.

● Approximate Cost : Rs.30 lacs per coach.

Year
No. of Coaches


2017-18
1,000

2018-19
3,000

2019-20
5,000

2020-21
5,500

2021-22
5,500

2022-23
5,000

New manufacture with upgraded interiors (18-19 to 22-23)
15,000

Total
40,000




Strategy

Existing RSP Sanctions


● 700 Coaches : Allotted to ZRs/PUs (Western Central Railways -411, Integral Coach Factory (ICF)-189, Central Railway-75, Rail Coach Factory Kapurthala-25); these are under different stages of tendering and execution.


● 57 coaches have been refurbished by Coach Rehabilitation Workshop/ Bhopal.


● Refurbished Coaches are running in Varanasi - New Delhi Mahamana Express since 22.01.2016.

● 6,000 Coaches :

● Tender by ICF :3,000

● Tender by COFMOW :2,000

● Tender by WCR :1,000

● Total 6,700 Coaches.


Additional sanctions under RSP shall be sought in due course.


Refurbishing – Salient Points


• World class ambience

Panels without visible screws, LED Lights,

Modular toilets with concealed plumbing, Branded fittings, Powered venetian blinds, Anti-Graffiti coating, etc.


• Enhanced Passenger Safety

Fire and Smoke Detection System (in newly manufactured AC coaches),

Double acting compartment door (in AC coaches), Rounded edges at most locations for injury-free, etc.

• Caring for the Environment

Bio toilets


• Use of better materials

Such as Polycarbonate ABS, Advanced Composites, Glass Fibre Reinforced Plastic, GFRE, Stainless Steel, etc.

• Enhanced Passenger convenience

Passenger Address & Passenger Information System, Braille Signage, Ergonomic design, increased number of mobile / laptop charging points, etc.


Retro-fitment of Centre Buffer Coupler (CBC) with Balanced Draft Gear


● Board has approved the Retro-fitment of about 32,000 Integral Coach Factory coaches (having a minimum residual life of 10 years), with CBC & Balanced Draft Gear.

● Sanction under Rolling Stock Programme (RSP) for retrofitment in 16,000 coaches has been obtained vide Pink Book Item No. 1254/17-18.

● Approximate Cost : Rs.28 lacs per coach.

● Additional Sanctions under RSP shall be obtained in due course.

● The work is targeted for completion by 2022-23.



Year
No. of Coaches


2017-18
2,000

2018-19
5,000

2019-20
5,500

2020-21
7,000

2021-22
7,000

2022-23
5,500

Total
32,000



Strategy



In-House

● In Mid life Rehabilitation (MLR) and Periodic Overhaul (POH) Workshops.

● 24 coaches already retrofitted have been running in Train No.15120/19 Manduadih - Rameswaram Express since 23.04.2017.

● Work likely to commence in a regular manner from October’17 after CBC with Balanced Draft Gear is made available.


Through Contract :



● In Rly. Premises : COFMOW has invited Tenders for 2,500 coaches that are under finalization, Tentative Commencement of Work from October’17.

● In Firms’ Premises : COFMOW has invited Tenders for 5,000 coaches, Tender Opening in July 17, Tentative Commencement of Work from November’17.

● Additional sanctions under RSP shall be sought in due course



Retrofitment of CBC – A major structural modification


Sequence of Work

● Stripping of the lavatories and doorway area.

● Gas cutting the End wall stanchions, Headstock assembly and Trough floor

● Fabrication of the Head stock compatible with CBC

● Tack welding of the new Head Stock with the Stanchions pillars and Sole bar.

● Measuring the camber, followed by full welding of the Head stock

● Inspection of the critical weld joints using DPT

● Painting with high performance anti-corrosive epoxy coating

● Replacement of Sole bars of length 2600 mm and 2700 mm on both sides.

● Welding of the End wall sheets, Side wall sheets, Turn under and Trough Floor.

● Cleaning and Painting.

*****


AKS/ENS

 

[Hindustani78]

Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship
13-June, 2017 20:46 IST
GE partners with Ministry of Skill Development to give boost to Skill India Mission; Sources skilled workers for its Greenfield manufacturing base in Bihar

General Electric (GE) in partnership with Union Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE) is planning to source workers and skilled technicians from Bihar itself, in line with its Greenfield manufacturing base being set up in Marhaura (Bihar), service facilities in Roza (UP) and Gandhidham (Gujarat). This project was launched as a part of Prime Minister ’s ‘Make in India’ scheme in which GE agreed to invest close to $200 million and will certainly boost employment opportunities for the local people. Under this project, GE even plans to set up state of the art Skilling Centres with support from the Ministry.

As part of the project, the production of first railway coaches will start from mid-next year from Saran. GE, in collaboration with India Railways, is nearing completion of a Diesel Locomotive Manufacturing Plant in Marhaura, Saran district in Bihar. A new transmission line to Marhaura is being created to provide electricity to this factory. GE is also coming up with a state of the art maintenance shed for diesel locomotives in railway’s land in Roza near Shahjahanpur.

To discuss the progress of the project, a delegation of GE led by its Vice chairman John G. Rice here today called on Shri Rajiv Pratap Rudy. During the meeting Shri Rudy expressed his desire that GE should conduct skill mapping of the surrounding areas in consequent wake of the requirement of skilled workforce in setting of the plant. He stated that the nearing ITIs can be leveraged to offer skilled resources. GE can also set up and additional infrastructure for training. The Minister further suggested to the GE delegation that old colonial infrastructure can be revamped to set up health care centres which GE can run under its CSR initiatives.

Shri Rudy flagged the issue of alarming levels of arsenic in the ground water of Bihar which he has been combating through his own personal funds and MPLAD budget allocations. He suggested the amble scope of development work on the said issue.

GE delegation updated the minister that they are working on extending support for ancillary industries in that region. Shri Rudy was informed that GE Healthcare, an arm of General Electric is working in line with the Skill India Mission and aim at creating 1, 00,000 strong skilled healthcare workforce in India by partnering with National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) and has now set up skilling centres in 15 cities where they are training individuals to be lab technicians, X-Ray machine operators and Radiology equipment operators.

GE Power India, part of the General Electric Company was the first corporate donor to contribute to the National Skill Development Fund, a special fund setup under the Ministry of Skill Development & Entrepreneurship. GE Power has allocated INR 50 lacs in CSR contributions towards this effort covering the current financial year.

 

[Hindustani78]

Ministry of Shipping
15-June, 2017 17:59 IST
V.O. Chidambaranar Port Trust organizes ‘Sabka Saath Sabka Vikas Sammelan’ at Tenkasi in Tamil Nadu

The Union Minister of State for Road Transport & Highways and Shipping Shri Pon. Radhakrishnan has said that during the last three years, the centre has implemented various schemes like Ujwala, Jan Dhan Yojana and Skill Development for the benefit of the weaker sections of the society. These schemes, he said, have helped achieve the goal of inclusive growth. The Minister was speaking at the ‘Sabka Saath Sabka Vikas Sammelan’ organized by V.O. Chidambaranar Port Trust at Esakki Mahal in Tenkasi in Tirunelveli district of Tamil Nadu today. Shri Pon. Radhakrishnan said that the vision of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has led the country to excel in all sectors in the past three years.

Talking about the shipping sector Shri Pon. Radhakrishnan said that India is registering a positive growth even as the shipping sector worldwide is seeing a downward trend. The Sagarmala programme launched by the Prime minister last year aims to increase the capacity of Major and Non-Major Ports to 3000 MTPA from the present 1054 MTPA, he said. Major ports have been consistently increasing their capacity and making profits over the last few years.

Lauding the performance of V.O. Chidambaranar Port Trust, the Minister said that the port is rapidly increasing its handling capacity, and is consistently handling increased volume of cargo. The Port handled 38.46 MTPA in 2016-17 as compared to 36.84 MTPA in 2015-16,” he said. Shri Pon. Radhakrishnan further said that when the Enayam Port Project is implemented Tamil Nadu become the first state to have four Major Ports. He also listed out the measures taken by his Ministry in building highways and informed that Rs.50,000 crore has been allocated to implement various road infrastructure projects in Tamil Nadu.

Shri S. Anantha Chandra Bose, Chairman, V.O. Chidambaranar Port Trust said this was the first time in the last few decades, or perhaps since independence, that the shipping and logistics industry is getting so much focus.

Welfare measures under Ujwala scheme, farm loan and cash incentives to students were also distributed to beneficiaries during the programme. V.O. Chidambaranar Port Trust, Enayam Port, India Post, Co-optex, National Highway Authority of India (NHAI), Indian Coast Guard and Housing and Urban Development Corporation had set up stalls at the programme. Attractive visual displays and pamphlets informed the visitors about the various projects and the initiatives taken by the government for the benefits of the people.

 

[Grevion]

49002 at GE test tracks
View attachment 402869 View attachment 402870

Beautiful.
A bit like wdg4 but looks very elegant.

 

[Lord ZeN]

Elon Musk in Talks to Bring Electric Cars to India

Tesla CEO Elon Musk said he’s in talks with India’s government to sell electric cars in the country, which is currently the fourth-largest auto market in the world.

Musk said on Twitter Thursday that he is currently negotiating a relief on import penalties until Tesla can build a local factory. This isn’t the first time Musk has announced he intends to enter the Indian market — Musk said in February he was hoping to launch in the country this summer.

India could become one of the most important markets for Tesla given the country’s massive population size and focus on reducing emissions.

ADOPTION OF ELECTRIC VEHICLES
Vehicle adoption in India is expected to grow rapidly. At its current pace, the country is set to become the third-largest auto market in the world by 2020, according to a May report by the India Brand Equity Foundation, the Indian government’s resource center for economic information.

India’s passenger vehicle segment witnessed the most growth in the 2016 fiscal year, but two-wheelers still secure the most widespread adoption.

But some foreign automakers have so far struggled to increase sales in India, driven partially by a crackdown on diesel vehicles. General Motors put its $1 billion planned investment in India on hold last summer due to poor sales and the regulatory environment, Reuters reported at the time.

What could give Tesla an edge is that India is looking to promote electric and hybrid vehicle sales through its National Electric Mobility Mission Plan. The initiative aims to have 6-7 million electric and hybrid vehicles on the road by 2020 by offering manufacturing and purchasing incentives. The country, however, will need to invest heavily in a charging infrastructure to make that vision a reality.

As Musk explores India, Tesla is also looking to further tap into the Chinese car market, the largest in the world, as the government pushes battery-powered vehicle adoption.

https://futurism.com/elon-musk-in-talks-to-bring-electric-cars-to-india/

 

[anant_s]

WDG 4G undergoing test before paintwork at Erie works, GE.

@Abingdonboy @Grevion @Nilgiri @hellfire @proud_indian

 

[Grevion]

WDG 4G undergoing test before paintwork at Erie works, GE.
View attachment 404298 View attachment 404299 View attachment 404300 View attachment 404301 View attachment 404303

@Abingdonboy @Grevion @Nilgiri @hellfire @proud_indian

I would have preferred this paint theme more. Gives a rustic look to the loco, perfect for DFC.

 

[Nilgiri]

https://myind.net/Home/viewArticle/...own-in-india-is-the-quarter-of-demonetization

Understanding the GDP slowdown in India in the quarter of Demonetization

The GDP growth rate in the last fiscal year ending in March has dipped to 7.1% from the 8% for the previous financial year as per provisional estimates from the Central Statistics Office whose National Accounts Division is responsible for the preparation of India’s national accounts including GDP. This 1% dip in the growth rate is almost certainly due to the effect of the “demonetisation” exercise undertaken by the NDA government.

Let us discuss this briefly after putting it in context.

It has been well established that sustained growth over a long period is that is essential to lifting the average income of the country and is the key to increasing standard of living, thanks to the pioneering work of Nobel Laureate Prof. Simon Kuznets who developed measures of national income. MIT economists such as Nobel Laureates’ Prof. Robert Solow and Prof. Samuelson did further pioneering work on explaining the causes of growth. The current high standards of living in the US and Europe were achieved by decades of moderate growth rather than growth that reflects the boom and bust cycles in Latin America. For instance, the average US GDP growth rate was about 2% per year for the entire list century resulting in about an 8 fold increase in GDP per capita over the period. Incidentally Prof. Kuznets was Dr. Subramanian Swamy’s doctoral advisor at Harvard University.

Therefore measures that promote sustained growth are critical over measures that incentivize short term spurts.

The key to growth in India lies in under the Consumption at about 60% and Investment at about 30% heads in the Aggregate Demand valuation of the GDP account. Furthermore sustained Investment is necessary for the supply side to be able to meet Consumption growth in the demand side. It is unlikely that exports will play a major role in India’s future GDP growth, it historically has not, and furthermore current global conditions are not very conducive.

Demonetisation is one of several steps by the NDA government to curb “black money, and expand the size of the formal economy and tax base. It was announced past the end of the Income Disclosure Amnesty scheme in 2016.

A brief survey of the rationale, costs and possible benefits based on a few key facts is presented here.

The benefits of demonetization will appear over the long term while the costs will be more apparent in the short term. The expected benefits are both several and significant and include the reduction in the size of the unaccounted economy, increased tax base, increase in accounted money, increase in bank deposits, increase in lending and lower interest rates due to increased bank deposits, controlled inflation, setback to state sponsored counterfeiting, check to terror financing and several more. The actual benefits accruing to each of these will accumulate over the long term and the net benefits can best be understood by over the years to come. Exploring this offers material for a stream of academic papers for many years to come. But several indicators to these positive effects are already discernable. There are 9.1 million new taxpayers in 2016-17, an 80% increase over the typical yearly rise. Verification of millions of unexplained deposits is still underway. Bank deposits rose by more than 10%; the State Bank of India (SBI)alone saw its deposit base increase by over 18% from 2016 to over Rs 20 lakh crore by March 2017. The excess liquidity can be expected to lead to lower interest rates that can help in recovery from the NPA situation and help with the GST transition.

Some benefits were seen in November 2016 itself, 47 urban local bodies to the Union urban development ministry show their tax collection increased by 268% in November 2016 compared to the same period last year. As an example Mumbai municipality’s tax collection was Rs. 11,913 crore that month, compared to Rs. 3,185 crore it collected last November.

Electronic Money helps to increase consumption by increasing money velocity as the spending of cash is not constrained by its physical movement across from hand to hand. Increased deposits of money in banks instead of having it locked up under the mattress or in inflated real estate puts the money to work by funding Investment. The unaccounted “Black economy” was once estimated by the World Bank to be about 23% of the GDP.

Investment in physical infrastructure in largely driven by the government in India and this activity is a key constituent of the GDP. India had a very low Tax to GDP ratio of about 16.7% in 2016, compared to 25.4% in the US and 30.3% in Japan. Therefore increased tax collection is an important benefit.

A slowdown was expected to occur post demonetization by everybody concerned given the removal of a principal transaction medium in the economy and the resulting short-term liquidity squeeze. The ratio of currency to GDP in India was about 12%, high by global standards. This was due to the hit to consumption as well as the lost productivity from time spent in dealing with the consequences such as by queuing up to exchange bills. Compare this to the dire predictions of doom from several quarters: The previous Prime Minister, Dr. Man Mohan Singh, had incredibly predicted to the parliament that the GDP would shrink by 2% in December 2016! Not a reduction in growth by 2%, but a reduction of the entire GDP by 2%. And he went on to add that: “this is an underestimate and not an overestimate”.

Ironically growth reducing to 7% from 8% for a single quarter during demonetization is very good, especially under the circumstances. India is still the fastest growing major economy in the world. It is good to review the reports and opinion of key Multilateral Institutions and International Ratings Firms for a dispassionate and objective view of the impact of demonetisation on growth.

The opinion amongst them can be summed up in this quote from a report by Moody's Investor Service "The negative impact of last year's demonetisation on the economy has been limited in size and duration". They further predict that the economy will grow 7.5 per cent in fiscal year 2017 and 7.7 per cent in fiscal year 2018 and will accelerate to 8 per cent. The IMF in May 2017 said that the GDP growth rate will be 7.2% this fiscal and 7.7 per cent in 2018-19. The World Banks’s opinion communicated via its bi-annual economic India Development Update that same month is similar.

The government has done well by controlling inflation from about 12% in 2014 to less than 4% today, and moving the GDP to a new stable normal of 7% growth in just a few years. They have been working hard on Government spending through speedy and efficient project clearance and implementation, and on increasing FDI to where India has one of the highest inflows in the world. FDI has seen a huge jump from $34.5 billion to $61.7 billion since 2013. The increase in road construction to more than 20km per day, the National Waterway projects with associated multi-modal terminals, and the increase in port capacities from 745 metric tonnes per annum (MTPA) in 2013 to 1,065 MTPA in 2017 are all good examples. These projects help with the current GDP by generating present work and also help future growth by improving infrastructure.

The increase in FDI flow will be further helped by the recent liberalization of foreign direct investment rules in several key sectors such as Railways, Defense, Railways, Civil Aviation, Insurance etc.

Reaching a new normal of 10% in the medium term will require all engines of growth to be revived. This will be dependent on key reforms such as the GST rollout, resolution of Non-Performing Assets (NPA) and the ongoing infrastructural improvements. The GST roll-out can be expected to cause another short-term marginal blip in the rate of growth, but is essential for sustainable long term growth. Further structural reforms such as Land Acquisition and Labor Reforms require accumulation of further political capital that will hopefully accrue from the 2019 General Elections.

The resolution of the NPA situation to revive private investment is a difficult challenge requiring innovative thinking due to the political sensitivities involved with debt ridden corporate houses. Ironically the NPA situation was created when exuberant borrowing by Indian companies went into projects that were delayed and stalled by the UPA government, nominally headed by Dr. Man Mohan Singh, to where they turned into NPAs. This was happening at a challenging time of crashing commodity prices and a challenging global environment. It is not difficult to understand what happens when a corporate house borrows heavily to build a power plant that does not take off because of stuck clearances and policy deadlock, and has to keep paying the interest on the loans. At some point, interest servicing becomes difficult with existing income flow and the loan becomes an NPA in the Bank’s portfolio. The price to pay for the decade of policy dead lock, lack of structural improvement, and lack of initiative by the UPA government was high, and continues to have an effect. It is quite remarkable that Dr. Man Mohan Singh recently decided to blame the current Government for private investment not being a key driver in GDP growth. The present NDA Government and the RBI have done well by enacting several measures to force this issue into the open to where it can be dealt with. The Insolvency and Bankruptcy Law, passed in 2016, makes it easier to liquidate a failing business and recover debts. Financial crisis happens when underlying problems are hidden or not acknowledged until they blow up. Once again some immediate short term pain is essential to prevent a deeper longer term crisis.

To summarize, policies that create the basis for sustained growth even at the cost of a marginal dip in growth in the short term are essential. It is a fact that governments in India while planning for long term growth also have to contend with facing elections at shorter term intervals. This is a difficult balancing act. A government that risks its electoral chances by undertaking high risk reforms for sustainable growth definitely deserves support.


Disclaimer: The opinions expressed within this article are the personal opinions of the author. MyIndMakers is not responsible for the accuracy, completeness, suitability, or validity of any information on this article. All information is provided on an as-is basis. The information, facts or opinions appearing in the article do not reflect the views of MyindMakers and it does not assume any responsibility or liability for the same.

 

[Abingdonboy]

I would have preferred this paint theme more. Gives a rustic look to the loco, perfect for DFC.

These aren't meant for DFCs.

 

[wiseone2]

• Five of top-10 firms lose Rs 32,959 crore in m-cap

This is 5 billion USD

Cognizant relieving 6000 in India to hire in US? IT employees up in arms

Cognizant is an American company

 

[AndrewJin]

49002 at GE test tracks
View attachment 402869 View attachment 402870

what will be this loco used for?

 

[Grevion]

These aren't meant for DFCs.

They are not??

Did a quick research couldn't find anything instead found this -

GE Transportation works to fill largest order in its history

The contract calls for building 1,000 locomotives for India Railways. But it also calls for the resources of engineers in Erie and India and required the company to build a small town near its new plant.

General Electric was building a massive new locomotive plant, but construction wouldn’t stop at the factory gates.

Building on land described as wilderness, GE planned to also build a small community that would begin with 100 homes.

That might sound like the familiar story of Lawrence Park, built by General Electric after beginning work on its Erie plant in 1910.
But it also describes what is taking place this moment, half a world away, in the remote Indian state of Bihar, where GE Transportation is building not only a new factory but also a small town, complete with a community center and shopping areas, all in support of the largest order in the history of the business.

While the steel framework of a new 500,000-square-foot factory takes shape in India — patterned after the company’s locomotive plant in Fort Worth, Texas — engineering teams in Erie and India have spent months designing, redesigning and tweaking plans for locomotives the company would build for India Railways.

The first two of those 4,500-hp locomotives, which GE engineers say represent a 20-year leap in technology compared to the freight locomotives now pulling loads across the world’s second most populous nation, have been built by workers in Erie and are ready for testing on the company’s test track.
After they’ve been tested and painted, an elaborate scheme of red and yellow, the locomotives are expected to be shipped from Erie in August and arrive in India sometime in October.

The order isn’t new. It’s been known since late 2015, just weeks after the company announced a massive downsizing of 1,500 people from its Erie plant.

At first glance, the $2.5 billion order for 1,000 locomotives would have seemed like salvation for the Erie plant, which is the designated build site for locomotives constructed for foreign markets.
But this order, like a growing number of international orders, called for much of the work to be done in the country that was making the purchase.

In this case, the order from India Railways called for the first 100 locomotives to be built in Erie and for the remainder to be built in Bihar, an agricultural region in eastern India that borders Nepal.

At a media event Thursday, attended by railroad journalists from around the United States, company officials were quick to acknowledge the location was one they would never have chosen. Not only was the proposed plant site in a flood plain, but it was also located in a high-risk area for earthquake activity, had spotty electrical service and no proven workforce.

But GE took the gamble.

Speaking during a video conference with reporters, Nalin Jain, CEO of GE Transportation and GE Aviation in South Asia, said the new plant, which is expected to be building locomotives by the third quarter of 2018, will train and provide jobs for about 400 people.

Bihar “is a very undeveloped place,” Jain said. “We are not only in the business of building locomotives. We are in the business of nation building.”

Building the factory meant sinking hundreds of concrete pilings 75 feet into the earth to help protect the building from potential earthquake damage.

And in what might have been an even greater challenge, it meant elevating a 70-acre building site by 9 feet.

After building a truck-worthy road to the remote building location, truck drivers worked round-the-clock, hauling an average of 500 truckloads of fill to the site each day for six solid months.

Meanwhile, design teams in Erie and India were working to perfect the locomotive they had promised to build.

Alan Hamilton, GE Transportation’s general manager for systems, propulsion, electronics and advanced controls, showed reporters how engineers and others in Erie used a virtual reality room to communicate with a second design center in Bangalore, India.

The process allows for immediate design changes and replaces the long-standing practice of building plywood mock-ups, he said.

“Before, changes could take weeks,” Hamilton said. “This allows us to do it in real time.”

Hamilton said the new locomotive leverages tried-and-true GE technology, but is built to the customer’s unique specifications that call for a lighter locomotive with two operator cabs instead of one.
In addition a wide range of technology upgrades, Hamilton said the GE locomotives will provide operators with air conditioning, a virtually unknown luxury in a country where locomotives are built to withstand operating temperatures of up to 120 degrees.

Scott Slawson, president of Local 506 of the United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America at GE Transportation, couldn’t be reached to comment. But Slawson has said in the past he would like to see Erie workers do as much of the work as possible to fill orders placed by foreign and domestic customers.

Richard Simpson, the company’s vice president of the global supply chain, said building most of the locomotives in India, like the requirement to build a small town, was not up for negotiation.

He said the massive order will provide some stability for workers in Erie, who will be shipping 40 fully built locomotives and then 60 of what he called “complete knockdown kits.”

“It’s basically a locomotive in a box, a lot of boxes if you want to know the truth,” he said.

The terms of the order call for the locomotives to be built over the next 10 years at the rate of about two per week.

But after building a plant, a small town on the sometimes shaky and seasonally flooded land of Bihar, GE Transportation is clearly looking beyond this contract.
“This order is for 10 years,” Simpson said. “But we don’t build factories for 10 years. We build factories like Erie for 100 years. Our expectation is to continue to win business.”

Sree Deep Nangarath, who helped design the new locomotive as a member of the GE engineering team working on the project from Bangalore, hopes that’s the case.

A native of India and a GE employee for 13 years, Nangarath said he has been looking forward to the day when a machine he helped develop would pull freight through his country.

One of those first two Indian locomotives, painted for the moment in a primer green that only an engineer could love, was pulled into the sunshine outside the GE Transportation for inspection on Thursday.

Nangarath smiled as he showed off the 291,000-pound locomotive, built in Erie and designed by engineers around the world.

“This is something we have been planning for 10 years now,” he said. “I had been hoping year after year that it would come. It’s a big day for me.”

Jim Martin can be reached at 870-1668 or by email. Follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/ETNMartin.


http://www.goerie.com/news/20170604/ge-transportation-works-to-fill-largest-order-in-its-history

 

[anant_s]

what will be this loco used for?

These are newer generation heavy axle load low emission machines for replacement of older ALCO models.

 

[A$HU]

These are newer generation heavy axle load low emission machines for replacement of older ALCO models.

Can't we make our own locomotives? I mean the heavy ones. Also if you'd be kind enough to elaborate about what is the current status of locomotive building in India and where is it headed?

 

[AndrewJin]

These are newer generation heavy axle load low emission machines for replacement of older ALCO models.

Got it