India's GDP to get a boost from Bihar's Rs 40,000 cr locomotive units, says Suresh Prabhu

New Delhi: Railways Minister Suresh Prabhu has said that the locomotive factories in Bihar will help in boosting manufacturing activities in the country that will contribute to the overall economic growth. [caption id=“attachment_2528014” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Reuters[/caption] He was speaking at the formal contract agreement signing ceremony for the two Rs 40,000 crore modern locomotive joint venture projects (electric locomotive factory at Madhepura and diesel locomotive factory at Marhowra) here. “These factories will now lead to ecosystem for developing ancillary units which in turn will a become part of the global supply chain and spur vertical and horizontal manufacturing activity. The other spin-off of these two big ticket projects will be to help in the increase of GDP,” he said. Prabhu said the projects have been finalised in the most transparent manner and this could happen because the process of decision making has been fast track now in the Ministry through delegation and decentralisation of power. He said that these two locomotive factories, a joint venture, are set up for inducting high horse power freight locomotives into the railway system for improving the efficiency of operation in terms of increasing the speed of freight trains, thereby improving the throughput capacity and also enhancing line capacity. “This would also help Indian railways to benchmark its freight train operation with the global trends of running freight trains,” he added. He said the locomotives being produced in these two factories are best in class and are expected to be energy efficient and ecological friendly. Speaking on the occasion, Minister of State for Railways Manoj Sinha said that the production of locos from these two factories will substantially increase the speed of goods trains and will therefore change the freight moment scenario in a big way. “This government is always committed to protecting the interest of farmers and the youth,” Sinha said. He said that these two projects will lead to economic development and will generate direct and indirect employment. Chairman Railway Board A K Mital said these locomotive factories are part of the process of network consolidation and modernisation unveiled by the government. Explaining the major highlights of the project, he said the ministry will go all-out to fulfill its part of this partnership whether it be providing of land, power connection, rail/road connectivity and meeting its commitment towards procurement of 1,000 diesel and 800 electric locomotives. At a policy level, this builds a platform for a modern railway equipment industry that would help to upgrade the technology periodically, he added. PTI