GE Transportation, BHEL to bid for for Rlys tender

New Delhi: GE Transportation, a unit of General Electric Company, has announced that it will be partnering with Bharat Heavy Electricals (BHEL) to compete for a 1,000 diesel locomotive tender issued by the Indian Railways.

GE was recently shortlisted by the Indian Railways for this tender. GE and BHEL, along with the Indian Railways, intend to form a joint venture company for this purpose.

“We had applied for the tender as a single application. However, our interests with BHEL have converged on the project. Besides, BHEL knows the customer (Indian Railways) very well and that would give us a tremendous advantage,” said Mr Pratyush Kumar, President and CEO, GE Infrastructure.

According to him, GE plans to invest an approximate $400 million in the diesel locomotive factory in Marora, Bihar, if it wins the tender. The company is also willing to dilute a part of its equity share of 74 per cent in favour of BHEL, he said, however, pointing out that GE would necessarily be the majority shareholder. In the project, the Railways will be retaining 26 per cent of the equity.

Should it win the tender, GE is preparing to bring advanced rail technology that has been designed at its John F. Welch Technology Centre in Bangalore. According to the company, the technology will have a peak output of 6,000 GHP, delivering 40 per cent more power at 30 per cent less weight than the locomotives of the same series currently utilised in other parts of the world.