Titagarh Wagons launches its first aluminium train for Pune Metro

The first aluminium metro train manufactured by Titagarh Wagons at its West Bengal plant for Pune Metro rail project was launched by Manoj Joshi, secretary of Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) and chairman of Maharashtra Metro Rail Corp, on Saturday.

Titagarh Wagons was awarded the order for designing, manufacturing and supplying 102 metro coaches for Pune Metro project in 2019. Under the terms of the contract, the company will supply three trains from its plant in Italy and the remaining 31 trains from its Indian facilities. The total contract for 34 trains is valued at nearly Rs 1,100 crore and is scheduled for completion by 2022-23 fiscal.

Following the conclusion of its acquisition of Italy-based Firema Trasporti in 2015, Titagarh Wagons has become an active player in metro coach and high-speed train manufacturing in India. The first train manufactured at the company's Italian facility was launched from the Garware station of the Pune Metro project.

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After bagging the Pune Metro order, Titagarh Wagons upgraded its manufacturing facility in Uttarpara near Kolkata to make modern metro coaches incorporating the latest features, highest safety standards and comfort running at 90 kmph. The state-of-the-art Industry 4.0-compliant plant has also enabled the company to successfully indigenise several critical components such as bogie frames, interiors and brake systems for these trains.

Umesh Chowdhary, vice chairman and managing director of Titagarh Wagon, said, "With this first aluminium Make in India train being delivered for Maha Metro, it is a moment of great pride and satisfaction for Titagarh and a dream come true for me personally. The (Titagarh) group is participating in various other tenders for metro coaches in India, in addition to the focus on propulsion vertical."

Chowdhary further stated that Titagarh Wagons was working towards becoming a fully integrated metro and modern passenger train manufacturer catering to the Indian and international markets. The company presently can manufacture up to 250 coaches a year and will enhance this to be able to produce 450 coaches per year in another couple of years.

Titagarh is the first private Indian company to be engaged in the design and manufacture of rolling stock for passenger and freight services.

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