GE lands $2.6 billion Indian railway deal

NEW DELHI, Nov 9 (Reuters) - General Electric (N:GE) has
won a $2.6 billion contract to supply India's railways with 1000
diesel locomotives, as the state-owned network looks to foreign
capital to help it modernise.
The U.S. company will also invest $200 million to build
local manufacturing and service facilities, GE said in a
statement on Monday.
The contract is also one of first and largest to be awarded
to a foreign firm since India last year allowed 100 percent
foreign direct investment in some parts of its railways, and
comes as New Delhi embarks on a huge modernisation programme to
overhaul its vast but dilapidated network.
Under the deal, the largest ever for the U.S. company in
India, GE will build a manufacturing facility in the eastern
state of Bihar, as well two maintenance sheds elsewhere in the
country, to service the locomotives over an 11-year period.
GE beat off competition from rival manufacturers like
Canada's Bombardier and Germany's Siemens for the deal. India is
also set to announce the winner of another multi-billion dollar
contract to supply electric locomotives.
Keen to upgrade the country's creaking infrastructure, Prime
Minister Narendra Modi's government has said it will invest $137
billion on its railways by 2020.
It has also opened up limited parts of the state-owned
network to private and foreign investment, luring manufacturers
hungry for contracts from the world's fourth largest train
network.
India's railways is a lifeline for the more than 23 million
people who use it every day, and offers some of the world's
cheapest fares to help its poor travel across the country.
But the system largely dates back to the British colonial
era and India has struggled to generate money to invest and
modernise, leaving an ageing and congested network where trains
run at an average speed of just 50 kilometres per hour.
GE said the company had received a letter of award from
India, and it would now sign a formal agreement before beginning
construction of the new factory.