Alstom to set up rail coach unit in Tamilnadu

In yet another show of Tamil Nadu’s emergence as a strong manufacturing hub, French engineering group Alstom has chosen to set up a new facility near Chennai at an investment of Rs 200 crore for making rail coaches.

“This will be a significant project and Alstom has decided to put up a rail coach unit in Tamil Nadu. The coaches will be produced for metro rail projects. The new facility will come up on a site in the Oragadam industrial corridor near Chennai,” a top government official on condition of anonymity.

“The labour-intensive project will trigger a multiplier effect and we expect the project to attract a lot of ancillaries in the engineering fabrication segments,” he added. With fast-growing urbanisation and the need for environment-friendly mobility solutions, the public transport system in several big cities in India are going for a major overhaul through establishment of metro rail projects.

Alstom looks to tap the potential in the upcoming metro rail projects as well as to strengthen its presence in the Indian market. Rail infrastructure solutions such as traction equipment, signalling equipment and train management solutions come under transport sector of Alstom’s business. The company’s key customers include Delhi Metro Rail Corporation and Indian Railways.