Chinese rail giant’s JV plant in India begins operations
August 21, 2016, 5:42 am

Photo taken on June 2, 2016 shows workers working on the production line of CRRC Tangshan Railway Vehicle Co., Ltd. in Tangshan, north China’s Hebei Province [Xinhua]

CRRC is also the first foreign company to set up an assembly line of rail transportation equipment in India after Prime Minister Narendra Modi unveiled his ambitious “Make in India” campaign in 2014, the company said in a press release.

China is targeting emerging markets in Africa, Latin America and Southeast Asia for rail-related orders.

This is CRRC’s first plant in South Asia.

The joint venture, named CRRC Pioneer (India) Electric Co., is located in Bavo Industrial District of the northern Indian state of Haryana, adjacent to the capital New Delhi.

Total investment in the project is $63.4 million, and the Chinese side holds 51 per cent of the shares.

The plant in India will repair and manufacture railway locomotive engines. It will also provide technology support to India’s rail system, and supply electric transmission systems to oil drilling, wind power generation and mining equipment making in India.

CRRC Vice President Yu Weiping said the new plant will create jobs and tax revenue for local people and help improve infrastructure.

It will advance cooperation in industrial capacity and local equipment manufacturing between the two countries, he added.

India has one of the world’s largest railway network spanning about 64,000 kilometers.

Since 2007, CRRC has been a supplier of subway trains, locomotive engines and other railway vehicles and parts to the Indian market.

“Given more than 60,000 kilometers of railways in India, it is far from enough to build a single locomotive engine plant in India,” Yu Weiping said.

“CRRC will build more plants able to produce trains, locomotive traction systems and other key parts in India,” he added.

The Chinese government combined former trainmakers CSR Corp. and China CNR Corp. last year to form CRRC, in a bid to better compete with Germany’s Siemens AG and France’s Alstom SA.

Its first plant in North America started operation in September 2015 in Massachusetts, the United States.

TBP and Agencies