Siemens has won the bid for manufacturing 1,200 electric locomotives in Gujarat. The Indian government is taking the lead in reducing the dependency on fossil based fuels and switching the Indian Railways completely to electrically powered locomotives will be a big step to reduce the carbon footprint.
The Indian Railways floated a tender in April this year for the manufacturing and maintenance of 1,200 electric locomotives at Dahod. Recently, Siemens, an Engineering company emerged as the lowest bidder for manufacturing 1,200 electric locomotives worth over Rs 20,000 crore at Dahod in Gujarat. “Siemens Limited has emerged as the lowest bidder (L1) for the 9000 HP electric locomotives project in Dahod, Gujarat, India,” a BSE filing said.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid the foundation stone for the manufacturing project of 9,000 HP electric locomotives at the Railway production unit in Dahod in April this year. The project had an estimated cost of around Rs 20,000 crore.
The Dahod workshop was established back in 1926 for timely overhaul of steam locomotives. Now it is being upgraded as a manufacturing facility for electric locomotives. The facility is undergoing infrastructural improvements to support the modern demand for manufacturing electric locomotives. This facility is expected to generate direct and indirect employment for over 10,000 people.
Around 1,200 electric locomotives will be manufactured at this Dahod facility in Gujarat over a period of 11 years from 2023-24 to 2033-34. Siemens will supply five locomotives in the first year and thirty five locomotives in the second year and thereon they will supply eighty locomotives per annum in the third and fourth years. In the fifth and sixth year Siemens will supply hundred locomotives each year. Every subsequent year Siemens will supply 160 locomotives for five years till 2033-34.
Siemens will manufacture these locomotives using green energy and these locomotives will carry the tag of green manufacturing.
