Union Budget 2020: Need to standardise rolling stock of metros

By Alain Spohr

2019 was a significant year in many ways for railways in India. The Government has been focusing on improving finance, safety and technology in the railways mainline as well as urban mobility sectors, resulting in achieving zero casualties last year. The correction in GST has been highly appreciated by global organizations including Alstom as it will promote “Make in India”, localization and fair play.

Additionally, the decision to operate private trains was another step that Indian Railways took to improve multiple aspects like finance, boost participation of private companies and create more avenues for technological collaboration.

The new wave of reforms for the new decade should strengthen and streamline policies for achieving collaboration and transformation at scale. The Finance Minister can address broader aspects in the upcoming budget such as ease of doing business where there are several challenges for manufacturing as well as dealing with project execution.

We would also like to bring to the Government’s notice the need for standardization of rolling stock for metro’s that can enable to speed up
manufacturing process and enhance resource optimization leading to more cost-effective solutions and faster project incorporation.

We observe that International funding sometimes comes with conditions that are not in line with localization. ‘Make-In-India’ is one of the flagship emblematic programs of the country, based on which companies like Alstom have invested and built significant capacity and capability in India. We would enjoy seeing the government push even stronger for those ‘Make-In-India’ for local content initiatives.

(Alain Spohr is the MD of Alstom India, South Asia)