The Railway navratna has recently started exploring overseas markets for India’s existing diesel locomotives after modifying them.
“There are about 12 countries in Africa which are in cape gauge (also called narrow gauge), but they have funding issues,” Rahul Mithal, chairman and managing director told ET.
He added that a team from Rites is working on developing tailored solutions to suit the requirements of the African nations.
The Indian Railways is predominantly on the broad gauge, but older locomotives can be retrofitted to adapt for narrower gauges where they can run for at least a decade.
Rites is a multidisciplinary organisation with a ₹9,090 crore orderbook spread across turnkey, engineering, and consultancy projects. The company is targeting a ₹10,000 crore orderbook by the end of this fiscal. “We have set up a special cell which is interacting with the client, local banks in those countries, and India’s Exim Bank to work out a commercial funding arrangement,” Mehta said.Rites recently secured a ₹160-crore order to supply and commission 10 overhauled diesel locomotives for the Cape Gauge railway network in South Africa.
“We have developed the designs, and work on gauge conversion of these locomotives has started,” he said, explaining a retrofit locomotive costs about 60-65% less than a new one.
On the status of the Mozambique supply order, he said the company had shipped the first two locomotives in the September quarter.
“We are trying to complete the 10 locomotive order by March 2026,” Mithal said, adding that the revenue recognition of the last two locomotives may spill over to Q1FY27.
On the ₹900-crore, 200-coach order from Bangladesh that faced setbacks due to political turmoil in the neighbouring country, he said the target is to prepare prototypes of these coaches “in about a month’s time.”
“We are targeting that the first rake of 20 coaches should go in quarter one next fiscal,” Mithal said, noting that payout for the order won’t be an issue since it is backed by the European Investment Bank (EIB).