BEML keen to localise coach production for bullet trains

Defence public sector undertaking Bharat Earth Movers Limited (BEML) is looking for localisation of coaches for Ahmedabad-Mumbai bullet train project through a tie-up with Japanese company Hitachi, with which it recently signed a memorandum of understanding, a senior company official said.

"We are looking to contribute for the bullet train project (between Ahmedabad and Mumbai). It is a Japanese funded project, so Japanese companies will be involved. Two Japanese companies which qualify to participate are Hitachi and Kawasaki," BEML CMD DK Hota, confirming that the company had recently signed a pact with Hitachi for railway product collaboration.

"Kawasaki has tied up with Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited, while we have done MoU with Hitachi. Last week I went to Japan and visited Hitachi factory in order to see how much we can indigenise for the project, Hota told reporters, after addressing a convocation at Nirma University.

"Japanese companies will like to offer imported products, but our aim is to see how we can ensure maximum indigenisation," he said.

Hota said that the collaboration is for 240 coaches which are planned to be introduced for the project by 2023. "It is too premature to comment further on this," he added.

The CMD further said that with the government focusing on MSMEs in defence localisation, his company is working with several of them.

"Every year we are setting targets for localisation, on how much we procure from MSMEs, to improve," he said.

The ambitious bullet train project was launched last year which will cover the distance of over 500 km between the two cities in less than three hours, from the present seven hours. Japan has extended a soft loan for the project, which is a joint venture between Indian Railways and Japan's Shinkansen Technology.