Bombardier eyes Vizag Metro Rail

The multinational company is keen on supplying metro cars to Visakhapatnam and Vijayawada where the projects are proposed

Multinational aerospace and transportation company Bombardier Transportation sees a very good potential for metro rail projects proposed in Visakhapatnam and Vijayawada.

The $18-billion company, which set up its Indian arm Bombardier Transportation India Private Limited after it bagged $1-billion metro car contract for Delhi Metro, now has set up Euro 30-million factory at Savli in Gujarat with a production capacity of 360 cars per annum.

The world’s largest rail vehicle manufacturing company is all set to export 450 cars to Australia from its Indian unit. It has also set its eyes on emerging market in South East Asia.

In an exclusive interview, Bombardier Transportation India Chief Country Representative Harsh Dhingra told

The Hindu on Tuesday that after successfully supplying 600 metro cars and commissioning the signalling system in Delhi, the company was targeting Vizag Metro Rail and subsequently Vijayawada Metro Rail to supply cars and do signalling.

He said they were expecting the bidding process for Vizag Metro to start in 2015-16 and to be completed in 2019. They were also hopeful that the metro rail project would start soon in Nagpur, Lucknow, Ahmedabad, Pune, Kochi, and Pune.

Other suppliers

Koreans and BEML are the other metro car suppliers in India. “Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu is a visionary. We are expecting that after clearance by the State Cabinet, both Vizag and Vijayawada Metro Rail Projects will start rolling in a time-bound manner,” Mr. Dhingra, a whole-time director in-charge of transportation, said.

He also disclosed that with the NDA government looking at opportunities for multinationals to invest in core sectors through their Indian arm, they would like to establish a mega project for locomotive manufacturing.