Exclusive Interview

Our Founder and Managing Editor Mr Narendra Shah had a brief conversation with Mr Rakesh Gaur, President of Railway Division at Kalpataru Power Transmission Limited.

Rakesh Gaur President of Railway Division at Kalpataru Power Transmission Limited.

Here are some excerpts from the conversation:-

Narendra Shah - How do you take your association with the firm? What are your responsibilities here in your company? Please also tell something about yourworks?

Rakesh Gaur - I am the President for Kalpataru's Railway Division and I am accountable for Group Railway Business globally. My association with the firm is 2 year old and I am with the industry for more than 30 years. We execute all kinds of Railway projects and we operate with Indian Railways especially in the domain of Electrification, Signaling and Telecommunication, Traction Sub Stations and Composite Track jobs, track modifications, gauge conversion, major and minor bridges, Station building and associated works like Platform etc.

Narendra Shah -What do you think about the condition of the power sector in India when it comes to Railways and Metros? What are the future perspectives ahead in this business?

Rakesh Gaur - The power sector in India is in a very good shape in terms of stability and capability. We have a very stable Grid. But, if we see it in context of Indian Railways, we are going to electrify approximately 68,000 Route KM (RKM. If we electrify the complete 68,000 RKMs we will have approximately 1000 Traction substations, 4000 switching posts and around 2000 feeders will come in for Railway connectivity and it will require connectivity at various grid levels of different electricity boards. In terms of power consumption, 2% of Country’s total power generation is generally consumed by Indian Railways. They are the largest consumer of power and consume 85% for traction works, and 15% for amenities, station works and other non-traction works. At present, since the complete network is not electrified and the electrification is done for only 42000 RKM, diesel is also being consumed on un-electrified routes

and approximately 3.2% of total diesel consumption of India is being consumedbyIndian Railways.

With High Speed Rail Corridors, DFCCs and other projects which will come into operation, the power quality will also become an issue and Indian Railways is upgrading the network to meet this requirement. In the Railway plan, they have already forecasted setting up 1000 MW of Solar Power and 150 MW of wind power and they are also working on the quality of power utilizing the dynamic filters to reduce the harmonics level at Traction Sub Stations. We are witnessing a sharp uptick in input cost and they are rising in a very unpredictable manner because ofthe larger Geo-Political issues. For Railway Electrification sector, the rising prices of Steel and Copper are also posing a major challenge.

challenges ahead? changed and pace of execution is also becoming a major challenge because we have to meet the targets but there is a Narendra Shah - What are the different Metro and Rail connected with the Metro Corporations?

Rakesh Gaur - We are associated with most of the Zonal Railways. With RVNL, a major PSU, we are executing the composite as well as electrification projects. Our other prestigious projects are with CORE and PGCIL, Gujarat Railway Industrial Development

Narendra Shah - Kalpataru Poweris alreadyone ofthe leading players in this sector? Howdo you take it, and what are the

Rakesh Gaur - KPTL is one of the leading players in this sector and we feel really proud that within a short span of time we are contributing significantly in the field of Railway Electrification which is a dream for Hon’ble Prime Minister and the Minister of Railways and approximately 20 to 25% contribution in this field is coming from KPTL on yearly basis now.

The major challenge that the industry is facing post lockdown or you can say during COVID-19 is Cash Flow. Productivity levels are low. The availability of cash is limited, Capex orientation is getting organizations you are working with today? How are you

shortage of manpower. This is a logistically challenging situation for the movement of manpower and has a cascading effect on the pace of execution, however we are sharply focused on addressing this matter. The other concern is that of Commodity prices. Corporation, Konkan Railways as well as RITES.

We are participating in tenders and remain hopeful of a business breakthrough with DMRC and other Metros for execution of Electrification works.

Narendra Shah - Which segment of the business, you are going to focus in the near future ? Is there any plan lying with you to bring newinnovations in the business? Please share yourviews.

Rakesh Gaur - As a group our focus is always on diversification to facilitate growth but that growth should be a profitable one. We are first building up on our capacities in our core areas i.e. we are doing Composite, Signaling as well as Railway Electrification projects. So these are our focus areas and we will continue to focus on these areas. However, we also want to see how our resources can be optimized by diversifying our portfolio, we are going for ballast less tracks as well as for international opportunities. We are mapping the other spectrum of the Railway business like RRTS or further corridors of DFCC etc.

In terms of Mechanization or Digitization, our efforts are for the overall optimization with the available resources. We have gone for wiring train as well as for Flash butt Welding machines of our own. We have gone for RRV and other such equipment which will give us an edge to improve the productivity fortrack works.

Narendra Shah - Howhas yourcompanyperformed in the last quarter? Is there anymajorimpact ofthe pandemic overyour business?

Rakesh Gaur - As you know after March’20, every company had a setback in the first quarter because of uncertainty and anxiety over labor movement and complete lockdown of the system. But, from June onwards, we have recovered well and our last quarter was on target w.r.t projections and we are meeting all the targets which have been set and agreed by us with Ministry of Railways. We are continuously doing the CRS and even today a CRS is going on a critical section. We are meeting all the projections and targets. The initial setback is behind us and now we have fully recovered from that.

Narendra Shah - How has the ongoing Coronavirus Pandemic changed the way of Railway business? Is there any major change being observed in this sector? Kindly express your opinion.

Rakesh Gaur- The disruption due to COVID-19 has really changed the way of thinking and ways of doing business. For construction activities people have to be at site and we are now trying to see howto optimize the output of our labor.

Similarly, initially the speed of execution was a bit slow because of the labor movement restrictions and there was a lot of anxiety among people. Now the anxiety levels have settled down, migration and reverse migration is taking place. However, since the trains are not running to full capacity, the labor movement is restricted and we have to bring the manpower through luxury buses. The safety and hygiene protocols as well as camping arrangements have changed drastically at the sites.

Due to restrictions oftrain movement , the availability ofthe blocks for working on the nearby tracks is slightly better. Industry is seriously thinking of more mechanization, more digitization and reworking the earlier practice of gathering of labor in any particular area to ensure social distancing.

Narendra Shah - In which of the foreign countries, you are currentlyworking with? KindlyShare the details.

Rakesh Gaur - KPTL started their operations as a power transmission and distribution company and that is our core strength. We operate in around 50 countries at present covering all the continents and we have significant presence in Central Asia, Africa, SAARC countries etc. In the Railways business, we have started working in Bangladesh. We are executing a Joint Venture project in a very congested area of Dhaka and the project is moving well inspite of initial setback due to COVID-19. The project progress has now come to the normal expected levels.

Narendra Shah - Please share a message forourreaders.

Rakesh Gaur - My congratulations to you as well as to the readers as we are getting a platform where we can interact, share our experiences and get updated on the developments across the industry. Friends, there cannot be a better time than now to start using local components and becoming more “Vocal for L o c a l ” a n d i t i s o u r esponsibility to ensure that our quality is top notch and better than Global standards. I remain hopeful that 2021 will be better and erase the pain we had to endure last year. I wish all ofyou good health, prosperity and happiness.

MyBest Wishes to you all.

Narendra Shah - Thank You