India: French multinational firm Alstom had recently held discussions with Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) and Megha Servo Drives Pvt Ltd, the only two bidders for private train operations in bids called by the Railway Ministry. “We have decided to support private train operations as a partner if the opportunity comes back. We are proposing a special train based on the High-Speed technology that is used in France,” said Alain Spohr, Managing Director at Alstom Transport India. He said that the proposed train is based on the TGV, a high-speed train that operates all over France. TGV stands for Train a Grande Vitesse (simply translated to high-speed train in English).
A certain type of TGV, called V150, holds the world record for the highest speed on any national rail system. The current world speed record for a commercial train on steel wheels held by the French TGV is 574.8 km per hour.
This record has been in place since April 2007. We have developed a local solution corresponding to the speed segment in India…We have also started to talk to the Indian Railways if they would be interested in adding this to their fleet of long-distance trains (above 1000 kilometres) High-Speed Trains. They have said they would want some more information about the train and we are going to enter a discussion with them,” he added. Commenting on whether discussions have happened with any private players about these trains, Spohr said, “During the first round of bids, there were three parties which were interested. We had given our offer to Megha Servo Drives, IRCTC, and one more player that did not put in bids.”
However, he said that they were offering only the rolling stock. Commenting on the revenue outlook from India operations, Spohr said, “We are aiming to achieve a revenue of €1 billion by next year (2022-23), up from about €650-700 million revenue that will be achieved in the current financial year.” Spohr further informed that Alstom India will bid for seven major projects worth over €1 billion by next month-end. In a statement, Alstom India said it has an order backlog of €4.1 billion as of March 2021-end.
