Rolling stock company Alstom has revealed that it has won a contract to provide maintenance for WAG-12B locomotives at Indian Railways’ Sabarmati locomotive depot.

The contract has been awarded to Madhepura Electric Locomotive Private Limited (MELPL), Alstom’s joint venture with Indian Railways (IR). It is valued at 62 million euros, and runs until February 2031.

Last year, Alstom delivered the 500th WAG-12B locomotive to Indian Railways. The first entered service in 2020. Alstom will deliver a further 300 locomotives to complete the order for 800 that Indian Railways placed with the company in 2015. Alstom already maintains the first 500 locos, and will now maintain the remaining 300 through its joint venture.

The contract requires Alstom and its partner to perform all necessary activities during both scheduled and unscheduled maintenance, including supplying materials, washing the locomotives, logistics and remote diagnostics. This is to ensure that Indian Railways’ train services meet strict availability and reliability targets.

Alstom already operates at the depots in Saharanpur (Uttar Pradesh) and Nagpur (Maharashtra), which it describes as “ultramodern”.

Alstom offers a maintenance service which it calls FlexCare Perform, through which it maintains both the electric locomotives and the depots’ infrastructure. It also provides for Prompt Response Teams (PRT), which are stationed at strategic locations and have specialist tools, equipment and spare parts at hand to return vehicles to service as soon as possible should they develop a problem.

The contract also includes Alstom continuing to deliver its skill development programme, through which more 22,000 Indian Railways staff have so far been trained.

The 2015 contract, worth €3.5 billion, required Alstom to supply eight hundred locomotives, all of which are fully electric, 12,000 HP double-section units which can haul around 6,000 tonnes. They form an important part of India’s Green and Digital mobility transition. Deploying these trains reduces carbon emissions significantly when compared to equivalent diesel locos, and also increases freight capacity.

“It is an honour to be Indian Railways’ partner of choice again, as it is reflective of the legacy established by MELPL and Alstom. Over the last decade we have worked collaboratively with the IR organization in supporting their freight revolution vision. We are thrilled to be trusted, for our remarkable maintenance capabilities and our reliability and availability track record.”

Olivier Loison, Managing Director, Alstom India