Railways In Talks With Mexico To Export Rolling Stock

The railways are in talks with the Mexican government to export a luxury tourist train.

This is a major development for the railways because so far only items such as diesel locomotives, locomotive and coach spare parts and track materials were marketed abroad. For the first time now coaches appear to be a strong export possibility.

Official sources said the integral coal factory at Perambur will be asked to execute the order as soon as the deal is finalised. Perambur already has the necessary expertise to meet the order. There are likely to be 10 or 11 coaches in one set, depending on the nature of the order.

 

Official surveys undertaken by the railways have revealed a huge potential for export of rolling stock in the South Asian and South East Asian countries besides Latin America, West Asia and Africa. The countries specifically identified in the survey include Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Vietnam, Myanmar, Iran, Zimbabwe, Peru, Chile, Brazil, Argentina and Mexico. Orders are already being negotiated with some of these countries.

In view of the resource crunch and the difficulties of funding the new projects and sustaining the ongoing ones, the railways have decided to sell used and unused rolling stock abroad.

A special committee headed by the former railway board chairman G K Khare has been constituted for the purpose.

Two railway PSUs Rail India Technical and Economic Services ( Rites) and Ircon International Ltd, have been nominated as the official agencies to explore the market.

As a result of the export drive, the railways export turnover in the current fiscal is expected to be around Rs 38 crore, which is a considerable jump from Rs 8 crore in 1994-95, when exports were undertaken in a methodical manner. The trend is expected to improve in 1997-98 when the turnover is estimated at around Rs 40 crore.