French rolling stock manufacturer Alstom will deliver 10 high-powered electric locomotives to Indian Railway in this financial year. For this, the Alstom and Indian Railways have signed a procurement cum maintenance agreement with Madhepura Electric Locomotive Pvt. Ltd. (MELPL). The delivery schedule is part of a comprehensive ‘recovery plan’ drawn up following a delay in supply of these locomotives under the initial agreement.
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As per the contract, Alstom was to supply four locomotives assembled at its Madhepura facility in Bihar in 2018, 35 locomotives in FY20, another 60 in FY21, and 100 every year after that till the completion of the order. The estimated time period for the project was 11 years. In this project, Alstom and the Indian Railways hold 74% and 26% equity share, respectively, in MELPL. After the test and trials, Alstom will accelerate the delivery schedule. The new recovery plan is to supply ten locomotives in FY2019-20, and 90 locomotives in FY20-21 and 100 locomotives per year beyond March 2021 as per their recovery plan. This is the first time that such high horse powered locomotive is being tested on a broad gauge network by any railways in the world.