Alstom (www.alstom.com) has commenced production at its green-field electric-locomotive manufacturing facility in India. Located at Madhepura (in the state of Bihar), this is Alstom’s first such facility in the country.

The Prima T8 locomotive that will be produced in this new factory has been specially adapted for the Indian network. The first unit will be ready early next year, followed by five more in 2019, 35 in 2020, 60 in 2021 — then by 100 every year until the target of 800 is reached.

A “true embodiment” of the ‘Make in India’ vision, this facility is part of a joint venture between Alstom (74%) and Indian Railways (26%). Spread across 250 acres, it currently employs 70 people — a figure that should increase by 25% every year until it reaches full capacity.

Jean-Francois Beaudoin, senior vice-president (Asia Pacific) at Alstom, said: “The e-loco project is one of the most prestigious for Alstom world-wide.

"This multi-million-euro investment is proof of our commitment to infrastructure development in India. In order to make a difference in this market, we need local expertise, competitive manufacturing capacity and close relationships with our customers.”

Alstom’s current ‘manufacturing footprint’ in India includes a metro rolling-stock manufacturing facility at Sricity and a component-manufacturing facility at Coimbatore.

For the e-loco project, the company is also setting up two maintenance depots at Saharanpur and Nagpur; it also has a rolling-stock and signalling design and engineering centre in Bangalore.