INTERVIEW
Alstom has been associated with India’s progress for many decades now and has a long-standing reputation for providing highly innovative and sustainable solutions for meeting the country’s transport requirements. Alain Spohr has over four decades of experience is leadership and managerial roles. His association with Alstom began in 1982, and since then he has held several positions under different business verticals within the company over different periods of time. Alain’s strong exposure in Industrial and factory operations have helped steer companies through rapid localization and cost reductions, helping business verticals secure significant market share and overall development. In this current role, his key focus is to expand Alstom’s business in India across all locations for optimized delivery of on-going projects within India and South Asia. In a recent interaction with Urban Transport News, Alain has discussed about the Alstom’s journey and business strategy in India. WWW.URBANTRANSPORTNEWS.COM
At the outset, please accept our heartiest congratulations on delivering twenty-four state-of-art and superpower Electric Locomotives to the Indian Railways at Madhepura Electric Locomotive Factory, Bihar, India. Please give some lights on this first high-value strategic project signed by Alstom in India?
highest-powered locomotives that will run on Indian rails. As per plan, we will deliver 75 units in FY 20/21. Starting next fiscal, we will deliver 100 units annually.
Thank you. Yes, it is indeed a proud moment for all of us at Alstom, as the country’s fastest and the most powerful electric locomotive built by us is being inducted into the Indian Railways’ freight service. Inspite of the challenges posed by Covid-19, we have been able to successfully manufacture and deliver 24 units to Indian Railways in the last couple of months. And as we speak, all the 24 e-locos have been deployed for commercial operations.
As part of the largest Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) project in the Railway sector, Ministry of Railways (Indian Railways) and Alstom came together in 2015 to transform the heavy freight transportation landscape of the country. An agreement worth Euro 3.5 billion was signed to manufacture 800 fully electric super powered double-section locomotives and its associated maintenance over a period of 11 years. This joint venture is one of the strongest realizations of Make-in-India vision in the railways sector with a strong impetus on indigenous manufacturing with over 85% localization.
This year, Alstom has started deliveries of the 12000 HP WAG-12 electric locomotives to Indian Railways, which is all set to revolutionize freight logistics in the country. Built by Alstom, certified by Ministry of Railways and Commissioner of Railway Safety (RDSO), these are the
Entry of WAG 12 (e-loco) will allow faster and safer movement of heavier freight trains capable of hauling 6,000 tonnes at a top speed of 120 kmph. Planned to be deployed for operations on Dedicated Freight Corridors (DFCs), these e-locos will increase the average
SEPTEMBER 2020 // Urban Transport Infrastructure
29
