The Electric Locomotive Factory, Madhepura is a joint venture of Alstom SA of France with

Indian Railways Indian Railways (IR) is a statutory body under the ownership of Ministry of Railways, Government of India that operates India's national railway system. It manages the fourth largest national railway system in the world by size, with a tot ...

for the production of 800 high-power locomotives over a period of 11 years designed to run on Indian tracks at . The manufacturing has started on 11 October 2017. The company's

Madhepura Madhepura is a municipality in Madhepura district in the Indian state of Bihar. It stands at the centre of Kosi ravine, It was called ''Madhyapura-'' a place centrally situated which was subsequently transformed as Madhipura into present Madhep ...

facility is spread across and currently employs 70 people. It plans to ramp up production by 25% every year till it full capacity is reached.

Alstom Alstom SA is a French multinational rolling stock manufacturer operating worldwide in rail transport markets, active in the fields of passenger transportation, signalling, and locomotives, with products including the AGV, TGV, Eurostar, Avelia ...

says its first locomotive will be ready for roll-out early 2019. On 10 April 2018,

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...

Narendra Modi Narendra Damodardas Modi (; born 17 September 1950) is an Indian politician serving as the 14th and current Prime Minister of India since 2014. Modi was the Chief Minister of Gujarat from 2001 to 2014 and is the Member of Parliament from ...

dedicated India's first high-speed

WAG-12 The Indian locomotive class WAG-12B is a class of 25 kV AC electric locomotives that was developed in 2017 by Alstom with technological collaboration with Indian Railways. The model name stands for broad gauge (W), Alternating Current (AC), Go ...

freight electric locomotive at Electric Locomotive Factory, Madhepura. The first five locomotives will be completed by 2019 followed by 35 locomotives by 2020, 60 in 2021, and by 100 every year till the target of 800 is reached. The company is also setting-up two maintenance depots at

Saharanpur Saharanpur is a city and a municipal corporation in Uttar Pradesh, India. It is also the administrative headquarters of Saharanpur district. Saharanpur city's name was given after the Saint Shah Haroon Chishti. Saharanpur is declared as on ...

Uttar Pradesh Uttar Pradesh (; , 'Northern Province') is a state in northern India. With over 200 million inhabitants, it is the most populated state in India as well as the most populous country subdivision in the world. It was established in 1950 ...

and

Nagpur Nagpur (pronunciation: Help:IPA/Marathi, aːɡpuːɾ is the third largest city and the winter capital of the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is the 13th largest city in India by population and according to an Oxford's Economics report, Nag ...

Maharashtra Maharashtra (; , abbr. MH or Maha) is a states and union territories of India, state in the western India, western peninsular region of India occupying a substantial portion of the Deccan Plateau. Maharashtra is the List of states and union te ...

Location

The factory is located at

, a city and municipality of

Bihar Bihar (; ) is a state in eastern India. It is the 2nd largest state by population in 2019, 12th largest by area of , and 14th largest by GDP in 2021. Bihar borders Uttar Pradesh to its west, Nepal to the north, the northern part of West Be ...

which got its existence as an independent revenue

district A district is a type of administrative division that, in some countries, is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or counties, several municipalities, subdivisions o ...

on 9 May 1981. Madhepura is located on the banks of river Kosi which is one of the largest tributaries of the

Ganges The Ganges ( ) (in India: Ganga ( ); in Bangladesh: Padma ( )). "The Ganges Basin, known in India as the Ganga and in Bangladesh as the Padma, is an international river to which India, Bangladesh, Nepal and China are the riparian states." is ...

. It consists of 13 divisional blocks. It is surrounded by six districts of

and has got a good road connectivity via NH 107 and

railway Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...

connectivity via

Saharsa Saharsa is a city and Municipal corporation in the Saharsa District in the eastern part of the state of Bihar, India. It is situated near the eastern banks of the Kosi River. It serves as the administrative headquarters for Saharsa District an ...

Jn and

Purnea Purnia ()(also Romanization, romanized as Purnea) is a city that serves as the administrative headquarters of both Purnia district and Purnia division in the Indian state of Bihar. Total geographical area of Purnia Urban Agglomeration is ...

Jn. During Sep 2013, the

Ministry of Railways A Ministry of Railways is a Cabinet department that exists or has existed in many Commonwealth states as well as others. It generally occurs in countries where railroad transportation is a particularly important part of the national infrastructur ...

had received bids from six global firms:

Siemens Siemens AG ( ) is a German multinational conglomerate corporation and the largest industrial manufacturing company in Europe headquartered in Munich with branch offices abroad. The principal divisions of the corporation are ''Industry'', '' ...

, Bombardier,

General Electric General Electric Company (GE) is an American multinational conglomerate founded in 1892, and incorporated in New York state and headquartered in Boston. The company operated in sectors including healthcare, aviation, power, renewable energ ...

, CSR Corp and CNR Corp. However,

rejected the bid of both Chinese firms ( CSR and CNR) for the two giant manufacturing projects in

. In January 2014, the

Union Cabinet The Union Council of Ministers Article 58 of the ''Constitution of India'' is the principal executive organ of the Government of India, which is responsible for being the senior decision making body of the executive branch. It is chaired by t ...

gave its approval for setting up ELF

and DLF Marhowra at an approximate cost of INR 1293.57 crore and INR 2052.58 crore respectively. In September 2015, first major FDI offer in

was when three global infrastructure giants -

and Bombardier bid for setting up ELF

at the cost of nearly INR 1300 crore on a

joint venture A joint venture (JV) is a business entity created by two or more parties, generally characterized by shared ownership, shared returns and risks, and shared governance. Companies typically pursue joint ventures for one of four reasons: to acces ...

basis with

. However, French major

emerged as the lowest bidder for the setting up, production and procurement of electric locomotives in

. In November 2015, the

awarded the contracts for

project and Marhowra project to

and General Electric respectively in a collective amount of USD 6 billion. This multi crore rupees deal was seen as the country's first FDI in the railway sector. In December 2015, Indian Railways issued the Letters of Award to both the companies to establish diesel and electric locomotive factories in Bihar. French PM Francois Hollande's visit to India in January 2016 has made this project sharper to execute. After the allocation of of land to Alstom, the ground breaking ceremony was held secretly in March 2016. Although, land acquisition was sometimes tense, construction of the factory will start by July 2016.

Project

After all ups and downs, the ELF Madhepura project kick-started from July 2016. As soon as the construction begins, it took 3 years to complete and the plant is ready for production from 2019. Under the joint venture of Indian Railways and Alstom, the factory is scheduled to manufacture and supply 800 electric locomotives of 12000 HP within a period of 11 years. The basic cost of 800 locomotives will be about INR 19000 crore rupees. According to Indian Railways Knowledge Portal, the ELF would lead to substantial development of ancillary manufacturing units, generation and direct and indirect employment in the region. The prototype locomotives are to be delivered in the next two years and only 5 locomotives are allowed to be imported and rest 795 locomotives are to be made in India. According to Alstom India managing director Bharat Salhotra, this project would start with employing 150 people and could go up to a maximum of 500 people. "Madhepura locomotive factory will be a game changer for Bihar" said Alstom India. As of 31 March 2022, the factory has rolled out 230 electric locomotives. https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/times-special/loco-that-put-india-in-global-club-of-6/articleshow/93648884.cms

Financial assets

As a joint venture company, both Indian Railways and Alstom are set to invest collectively a huge amount of USD 4.9 billion for ELF Madhepura. Ministry of Railways will hold 26% equity in JV company subject to a maximum of INR 100

crore A crore (; abbreviated cr) denotes ten million (10,000,000 or 107 in scientific notation) and is equal to 100 lakh in the Indian numbering system. It is written as 1,00,00,000 with the local 2,2,3 style of digit group separators (one lakh is e ...

. The contract ensures complete indigenisation of locomotives making it a true Make in India proposition. These efforts made by Ministry of Railways has received wide appreciation.

Outcomes

These high HP locomotives are planned to be used in the Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor and for pan-India operations for hauling freight trains of . With its modern features, the average speed of such trains will be around rather than the existing . This will enhance the line carrying capacity of locomotives. In terms of employment, it would generate employment not only to Bihar but also nearby areas such as West Bengal and Jharkhand. Also, the multiplier effect in railways is nine, so with the two big FDI projects in Bihar, it would give strong fillip to the Bihar Economy.

References

External links

* http://www.kportal.indianrailways.gov.in/index.php/blog/76-general/144-electric-locomotive-factory-at-madhepura-Bihar * http://www.livemint.com/Companies/bUhoYVGDD3uJwYJgThwMBI/Madhepura-locomotive-factory-would-be-a-gamechanger-for-Bih.html * http://www.railnews.co.in/category/railway-production-plants-units/electric-locomotive-factory-madhepura/
PM to flag off first 12,000 HP electric loco from Madhepura
{{Indian Railways Locomotive manufacturers of India Manufacturing plants in Bihar Madhepura district 2015 establishments in Bihar

Location

Project

Financial assets

Outcomes

See also

References

External links