New Delhi
30 March 2006
To cash in on the newfound momentum in the India-United States
relations, American companies are scrambling for the early bird prizes in the Indian
civilian nuclear energy industry and beyond.
Earlier this week, General Electric made a presentation on diesel locomotives to the
officials in the Ministry of Railways. Given the opening up of the container traffic
business and the expansion of freight services, Indian Railways is understood to be
scouting for powerful locomotives that can haul heavier loads.
The 'sales pitch' by General Electric comes amid the buzz that US corporates including
GE are lining up to bag lucrative contracts in the Indian nuclear energy sector. There is
also the 100-odd billion dollar contract for combat aircraft for the Indian Air Force. The F-
16 and F-18 jets manufactured by Lockheed Martin of the US are in the running for the
contract along with France's Rafale and Russia's MiG-29. The Ministry of Defence has
finalised the request for proposal.
The Ministry of Railways has recently launched double-stack container trains. Also, as
per the understanding reached during the visit by the prime minister of Japan regarding
dedicated multimodal freight corridors with computerised train control system on
Mumbai-Delhi and Delhi-Howrah routes, India and Japan have have agreed that the
feasibility study survey for the project will be carried out by the Japan International
Cooperation Agency.
Sources said the Railways could benefit not only by increasing the carrying capacity of
the locomotives but their speed also. However, they said such presentations are made
regularly and that no decision was expected to be taken just yet.
Incidentally, General Electric will participate in the 2nd International Railway Signalling
and Telecom Exhibition to be held in April in Delhi. In November last year, GE signed a
contract worth more than 450 million dollars with the Chinese Ministry of Railways for
supplying three hundred 6,000 horse-power locomotives.
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