Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train project may bring Bhel’s fortunes back on track
State-run Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd (Bhel) is eyeing a major role in the marquee Mumbai-Ahmedabad highspeed rail project, popularly called the bullet train ranging from manufacturing of coaches, civil construction works to laying down the rail links.
In a huge boost to India’s largest power generation equipment manufacturer, it was announced on Thursday that a joint venture (JV) between Bhel and Kawasaki Heavy Industries (KHI) will manufacture rolling stock for the Bullet train project. The announcement during the ongoing visit of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will help Bhel, which is positioning itself as a transportation solutions provider given the uncertainty in India’s power sector.
Apart from being a manufacturer of metro and commuter trains, KHI also manufactures the Shinkansen high speed bullet trains to be introduced in India.
“The two Prime Ministers committed to advancing “Make in India” and transfer of technology in HSR (high speed rail) projects, and expressed optimism in this direction. They welcomed the series of business matching efforts to establish India-Japan cooperation, such as the prospective technology collaboration between Kawasaki and Bhel,” according to the joint statement issued on Thursday.
Mint reported on February 17 about Bhel looking to pivot from power sector to transportation to keep pace with the fast-changing electricity sector.
“Both sides will explore further strengthening of partnership in high speed railways. They also recognised that there is potential for further collaboration between India and Japan in the modernisation and expansion of the conventional railway system and the construction of metro rails in India,” the joint statement added.
Bhel plans to piggyback on India’s urban challenge, with 600 million Indians expected to live in cities and towns by 2030. This will create a transportation challenge with metro rail being considered as a viable option. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has spoken of plans to get metro rail in 50 cities. At present, 316km of metro rail service is under operation and 500km under construction across 11 cities.
“We are looking at transportation from a holistic stand point and apart from manufacturing coaches, the Bullet train project may also include electrification, signalling, civil construction work including rail links,” said a senior Bhel executive requesting anonymity.
Railway minister Piyush Goyal, while announcing advancement of bullet train’ deadline by a year, recently said that India will adopt this technology, innovate it and then export it to other countries.
The public sector unit has already started work on becoming a turn-key metro rail end-toend solutions provider and has a technology collaboration agreement with KHI for the manufacture of stainless steel coaches and bogies for metros.
For the Bullet train, Bhel has a memorandum of understanding (MoU) which will have to be translated to a technology collaboration agreement. A Bullet train requires specialised aluminium coaches which the state run firm plans to manufacture at its Jhansi (Uttar Pradesh) or Bhopal facility (Madhya Pradesh). Experts say an entire ecosystem should be developed around the space.
While a Bhel spokesperson declined comment, queries emailed to Kawasaki Heavy Industries on Thursday afternoon wasn’t immediately answered.