The ministry has clarified that for
the purpose of export, these units can even make products in gauges not
generally found on the Indian railway network, such as the standard gauge.
In a
challenge that the officials are terming as steep but exciting, the railway
ministry has asked all its production units (PU) to prepare a plan to market at
least 10% of their products to firms or countries outside the ambit of the
Indian Railways. It has asked these units to partner with agencies such as the
Research Design Standards Organization (RDSO) to develop products for export to
foreign countries.
The
ministry has clarified that for the purpose of export, these units can even
make products in gauges not generally found on the Indian railway network, such
as the standard gauge. It has also emphasised on building modern three-phase
metre-gauge locomotives and diesel-electric multiple units (DEMU) as both these
products have a high potential in certain foreign markets.
"The
plan is to create a Rs100 crore corpus for Diesel Locomotive Works
(DLW)-Varanasi, to develop new products for export markets. Quality upgrade of
products for export is the need of the hour. Third party inspection should be
done to improve the standard of acceptability of PU products," read a
statement of the minutes of the Chief Mechanical Engineers Conference, held
recently at Ooty in Tamil Nadu.
The task
is daunting. According to a senior railway official, all production units put
together earn about Rs300 crore by selling products to firms and countries
apart from the Indian Railways, something the railways calls "non-fare
revenue".
Currently,
one of the biggest export orders with the railways is the construction of 120
LHB coaches for Bangladesh Railways. These coaches are being built at the Rail
Coach Factory (RCF)-Kapurthala in Punjab.
"The
plan is to get all production units under the Indian Railways to have an export
target of at least Rs500 crore. It is tough but it is time these units stepped up
to the challenge. By making standard gauge products, the railways can also
cater to various Indian cities where metro railway systems are coming up on
standard gauge (for example Mumbai's Versova-Ghatkopar metro)," said the
official.
A query
sent by dna to the railway board member (mechanical) Hemant
Kumar regarding the feasibility of the plan elicited no response.