India: Titagarh Rail Systems (TRSL) Vice Chairman and Managing Director Umesh Chowdhary says full-cycle production will be in place by next spring. This has been made possible by the import of equipment for fabricating flat carbody panels and sub-assemblies.
Aluminium car bodies for passenger rolling stock are currently not manufactured in India. “We will be fully self-sufficient in aluminium coach production, starting from raw material or from the extrusion stage. That will make us a vertically integrated manufacturer of coaches in both aluminium and stainless steel,” Chowdhary said. Bringing aluminium carbody production in-house, he added, will also let the company bid for high-speed train contracts in future.
TRSL previously held its aluminium carbody capability in Italy, through subsidiary coachbuilder Titagarh Firema at Caserta. Those carbodies went into 34 metro trainsets for Pune in India under a 2019 contract (pictured), and TRSL is now delivering a follow-on order of a further 12 trains for the city’s metro. Last year, however, amid mounting financial difficulties, the Italian asset was sold to national rail operator FS Group.
TRSL’s aluminium carbody capability could also find use in building Vande Bharat EMUs for national operator Indian Railways. It had planned to buy 100 of the trains and ran a tender, which Alstom won, but it then cancelled the order, judging the bid price too high. Vande Bharat trains for export have also been announced recently, where customers may likewise call for aluminium carbodies.
