Siemens Ltd on Monday, January 16, said the company has received an order for 1,200 locomotives of 9000 horsepower (HP) from Indian Railways. This is the single-largest locomotive order in the history of Siemens Mobility and the single-largest order in the history of Siemens in India, Siemens said in an exchange filing.
The company will design, manufacture, commission, and test the locomotives. Deliveries are planned over an 11-year period, and the contract includes 35 years of full-service maintenance.
The locomotives will be assembled in the Indian Railways factory in Dahod, Gujarat. Maintenance will be performed in four Indian Railways depots located in Vishakhapatnam, Raipur, Kharagpur, and Pune. Locomotive assembly and maintenance will be implemented together with the staff of Indian Railways. The contract has a total value of Rs 26,000 crore (approximately), excluding taxes and price variation.
Siemens CEO Roland Busch said the company is supporting the sustainable transformation of India’s transportation sector as the country seeks to almost double freight capacity on its railways.
The state-of-the-art locomotives will be used for freight transport throughout the Indian Railways network and are specified to haul loads of 4,500 tonnes at a maximum speed of 120 km per hour.
"I'm proud that this major order will help India achieve its ambitious goal of creating the world’s largest green rail network, as our locomotives will save more than 800 million tonnes of CO2 emissions over their lifecycle," he said.
"Producing 9000 HP, they will be one of the most powerful freight locomotives in the world. They will be equipped with advanced propulsion systems that are also produced locally in Siemens factories in India as well as the Railigent platform to deliver high levels of availability and performance," it added.
Sunil Mathur, Managing Director, and Chief Executive Officer said the company takes pride in partnering with Indian Railways in this prestigious project. The 9000 HP electric locomotive is a significant milestone in the rail electrification mission of Siemens.
