Bombardier's Savli facility to be export hub

Created at an investment of Rs.230 crore Bombardier Transportation will develop its Savli facility near Vadodra in Gujarat as an export hub to service orders of $2.7 billion for commuter cars and bogies from various parts of the world, including Australia and Brazil, the company has said.

"QNGR is one of the largest projects for Bombardier Transportation globally and the Savli site will manufacture 450 commuter cars along with its bogies. A substantial portion of $2.7 billion for Bombardier Transportation will be executed at its Indian sites in Savli and Maneja, both near Vadodara," Bombardier Transportation Vice President (Human Resources -Asia Pacific) Daniel Daigle said in a statement.

"As the site was built with the intention to develop export-oriented activities also, Bombardier keeps evaluating prospects for exporting metro cars and bogies to Asia Pacific, Europe and North America," Daigle added.

"For a company like Bombardier, which has been investing in India for the last five decades, it gives us an impetus to invest more towards transforming the rail transportation in India. We are interested in various rail projects in India and hoping to embark on a journey together with the new government to bring world-class rail infrastructure," he said of the government's decision to permit 100 percent FDI in railways.

On the proposal for a high-speed link between Mumbai and Ahmedabad, Diagle said: "Bombardier is one of the global leaders for high speed and very high speed trains with over 900 trains delivered worldwide. Our ZEFIRO high-speed trains are energy efficient with high capacity and smart interiors. Once the tender details are finalized, we would be very keen to participate and bring our high-speed train technology to India."

The company has delivered more than 600 coaches to Delhi Metro and is hoping for a further order for 124 more.

"We are also pursuing an option contract withDelhi Metrofor 124 cars," Daigle said.

The company is also involved in Metro projects in Mumbai, Bangalore, Pune, Ahmedabad and Lucknow.

The company had received its first export order in 2012, three years after commencing production.