Alstom Transport India will supply coaches to Kochi Metro Rail Ltd at a cost that will be lower compared with the ones supplied to other metro projects in the country.
Kochi Metro will commence its service from early next year.
Alstom, which commenced manufacturing these coaches on Saturday from its facility in Sri City about 70 km from Chennai, will deliver each coach at ₹8.40 crore against ₹10-12 crore for other metros, including Delhi and Chennai, said a senior company official.
The cost will be lower because the company has indigenously manufactured the coaches while most of the coaches for other metros were procured from abroad, he said.
M Venkaiah Naidu, Minister for Union Urban Development, Parliamentary Affairs, Housing and Urban Poverty, unveiled the first ‘Make in India’ coach shell for Kochi Metro at the Alstom factory.
Supply detailsThe ₹5,189-crore Kochi Metro project is the second contract for Alstom after the Chennai Metro project.
The company will supply 25 sets to Kochi Metro with the first train expected to be delivered in early 2016. The project will help in development of Kochi, which is economical and commercial capital of Kerala, said Aryadan Muhammed, Minister of Kerala for Power and Metro, at the function.
Alstom is in charge of design, manufacturing, supply, installation, testing and commissioning of the standard track gauge trains with an option to supply 25 additional metro sets. Each train will have three cars to carry up to 975 passengers.
Elias George, Managing Director, Koch Metro Rail Ltd, said that the project is one of the fastest to be executed in the country.
The company has committed to give the first coach in 15 months, which is the fastest delivery anywhere in the world.
The French government has allocated a substantial amount for the project, he told newspersons.
Exports from the unitDominique Pouliquen, President, Alstom China and Senior Vice-President of Alstom Transport, Asia-Pacific, said that the company plans to export half of its rolling stocks manufactured at Sri City in the next 2-3 years.
The French rail infrastructure company will export about 135 coaches to Australia; and is looking at customers in Europe, Asia-Pacific and the US for its coaches made in India. “A number of customers from abroad have visited Sri City and have started dialogue to procure coaches manufactured here,” he said.
Set up at a cost of nearly ₹630 crore, the Alstom facility has a production capacity of 120 coaches a year.
Bharat Salhotra, Managing Director, Alstom Transport India, said with the government planning to run metro trains in many cities, the company will ramp up by introducing two more shifts from the current single to reach its optimum capacity of 250 over a period of time.