Titagarh Wagons ties up with ABB for railway propulsion business in India

Titagarh Wagons Limited (TWL), flagship Company of the Titagarh Group, one of the market leaders in the railway rolling stock (trains and freight wagons) business in India and Italy has entered into an exclusive cooperation agreement with ABB, to address the large and growing business of propulsion equipment (traction converters) for the Indian railway EMU/MEMU market.

According to the agreement, Titagarh and ABB will work together to design, develop and manufacture state of the art 3 phase IGBT based propulsion systems for EMU/MEMU which would be manufactured in Titagarh’s plant at Uttarpara, Kolkata with certain components being supplied by ABB. This agreement goes into effect immediately with the first units to be put into revenue service in less than 2 years.

Titagarh has manufactured and supplied more than 300 EMU/MEMU coaches to the Indian Railways and is now executing an order for design, manufacture and supply of 102 state of the art metro coaches for Pune Metro ordered by the Maharashtra Metro Rail Corporation Limited. It would be the first time that aluminium coaches will be manufactured and supplied to any Indian metro, which is a landmark in the Make-in-India policy of the Government. Titagarh, along with its wholly owned subsidiary in Italy, Titagarh Firema SpA, has the technical and manufacturing expertise to design and produce world class train sets and metro coaches as well as propulsion equipment required for these trains and has over time established itself as a leading player in this industry.

Titagarh Firema SpA, the Group’s Italian subsidiary, is currently executing various orders for a total of more than 50 trains to different Italian cities and regions. It is supplying 54 trains for the Catania metro and 6 additional trains for the Regione Campania after having successfully delivered 21 trains to the Region in the last few years. These trains have a design speed of 180 kmph and an operating speed of 160 kmph. It is also executing an order from TrenItalia for upgrading and retrofitting its existing trains (TAF trains) with new, modern and energy efficient propulsion systems which are entirely designed and manufactured by Titagarh.

Titagarh, in cooperation with its Italian subsidiary had bagged a developmental order for propulsion systems required in the EMU/MEMU trains (local and suburban trains of Indian Railways)for an approximate order value of 65 crore INR from the Indian Railways. The cooperation agreement signed with ABB will support the execution of the above orders and also give an edge to Titagarh to establish itself in the field of power electronics.

Speaking on this occasion, Mr. Umesh Chowdhary, Vice Chairman & Managing Director of Titagarh said: “Entering the field of designing and manufacturing propulsion systems for the Indian Railways was a logical step in our strategy for the Indian Rolling Stock market. While our Italian subsidiary has been an established player in this field for the European systems, this agreement with ABB for EMU/MEMU propulsion will help us to expedite and strengthen our presence in the Indian propulsion market which follows a 25 kV AC system. Titagarh’s expansion into the Propulsion business is yet another endeavour towards the success of the Make-in-India and Aatma Nirbhar Bharat Abhiyan initiative of the Government of India. Titagarh on a Group basis is on its way to re-establish normal levels of operations post lockdown for COVID-19.”

“We are delighted to partner with Titagarh Wagons Limited (TWL) to supply our best-in-class traction technology. For over a decade, ABB has been associated with the Indian Railways in their electrification initiative and this new partnership with TWL further strengthens our local presence in providing sustainable transportation. At our world-class traction equipment manufacturing unit in Nelamangala near Bengaluru, we produce highly compact and light traction technology that improves locomotive’s energy efficiency, operational performance, and space for better passenger comfort,” said Sanjeev Sharma, Managing Director, ABB India.

About Titagarh Wagons Limited:

TWL has successfully transformed itself from a wagon maker for Indian Railways to a multinational diversified engineering and fabrication group. TWL is the largest private sector manufacturer of railway coaches (EMUs, MEMUs) and the largest wagon maker (other than Railways). TWL has access to the technology required for manufacture of Metro Coaches, Electric Trains and Shunting Locomotives through its wholly owned subsidiary: Titagarh Firema SpA, Italy.

TWL is also a leader in supply of special wagons for defence, panel bridges, integrated field shelters etc. One of the earliest private entrants in defence, it is an ‘Industry partner’ to DRDO and ‘Industrial License’ holder for certain products for defence. It has state of the art engineering infrastructure spread across Titagarh and Uttarpara in West Bengal; Bharatpur in Rajasthan; and Caserta in Italy.

About ABB : 

ABB (ABBN: SIX Swiss Ex) is a leading global engineering company that energizes the transformation of society and industry to achieve a more productive, sustainable future. By connecting software to its electrification, robotics, automation and motion portfolio, ABB pushes the boundaries of technology to drive performance to new levels. With a history of excellence stretching back more than 130 years, ABB’s success is driven by 144,000 talented employees in over 100 countries. www.abb.com 

Source: TWL-Press Release