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

Indian Railways Indian Railways is a state-owned enterprise that is organised as a departmental undertaking of the Ministry of Railways (India), Ministry of Railways of the Government of India and operates India's national railway system. , it manages the fou ...

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 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 which operates worldwide in rail transport markets. It is active in the fields of passenger transportation, signaling, and locomotives, producing high-speed, suburban, regional ...

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

Prime Minister A prime minister 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. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

Narendra Modi Narendra Damodardas Modi (born 17 September 1950) is an Indian politician who has served as the Prime Minister of India, prime minister of India since 2014. Modi was the chief minister of Gujarat from 2001 to 2014 and is the Member of Par ...

dedicated India's first high-speed WAG-12 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. Indian Railways got its 50th locomotive delivered by December 2020 and 100th locomotive by May 2021. The company also completed setting-up two maintenance depots at

Saharanpur Saharanpur is a city and a Municipal corporation (India), municipal corporation in Uttar Pradesh, India. It is also the public administration, administrative headquarters of Saharanpur district. Saharanpur city's name was given after the Sain ...

Uttar Pradesh Uttar Pradesh ( ; UP) is a States and union territories of India, state in North India, northern India. With over 241 million inhabitants, it is the List of states and union territories of India by population, most populated state in In ...

and

Nagpur Nagpur (; ISO 15919, ISO: ''Nāgapura'') is the second capital and third-largest city of the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is called the heart of India because of its central geographical location. It is the largest and most populated city i ...

Maharashtra Maharashtra () is a state in the western peninsular region of India occupying a substantial portion of the Deccan Plateau. It is bordered by the Arabian Sea to the west, the Indian states of Karnataka and Goa to the south, Telangana to th ...

Location

The factory is located at Madhepura, a city and municipality of

Bihar Bihar ( ) is a states and union territories of India, state in Eastern India. It is the list of states and union territories of India by population, second largest state by population, the List of states and union territories of India by are ...

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 county, counties, several municipality, municip ...

on 9 May 1981. Madhepura is located on the banks of river

Kosi KOSI (101.1 FM) is a commercial radio station in Denver, Colorado. KOSI is owned by Salt Lake City–based Bonneville International and airs an adult contemporary music format, switching to Christmas music for much of November and December. ...

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 which goes through India, Bangladesh, Nepal and China." is a trans-boundary rive ...

. 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 using wheeled vehicles running in railway track, tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel railway track, rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of ...

connectivity via and . During Sep 2013, the Ministry of Railways had received bids from six global firms:

Siemens Siemens AG ( ) is a German multinational technology conglomerate. It is focused on industrial automation, building automation, rail transport and health technology. Siemens is the largest engineering company in Europe, and holds the positi ...

, Bombardier,

General Electric General Electric Company (GE) was an American Multinational corporation, multinational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate founded in 1892, incorporated in the New York (state), state of New York and headquartered in Boston. Over the year ...

, 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 is the Cabinet (government), principal executive organ of the Government of India, which serves to aid and advise the President of India in execution of their functions.Article 74 of the ''Constitution of India' ...

gave its approval for setting up ELF Madhepura 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 Madhepura 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 acce ...

basis with

. However, French major

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

. In November 2015, the Ministry of Railways awarded the contracts for Madhepura 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.

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 Crore (; abbreviated cr) denotes the quantity ten million (107) and is equal to 100 lakh in the Indian numbering system. In many international contexts, the decimal quantity is formatted as 10,000,000, but when used in the context of the India ...

. 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