In poll-bound Bihar, PM to flag off export of locomotives to Guinea | India News

NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to flag off export of the first locomotive from Marhowrah factory in Saran for Guinea in West Africa on Friday, signalling the NDA govts’ — both at Centre and state — thrust on accelerating economic activities in poll-bound Bihar.Railway ministry officials said that 150 Make in India Evolution Series (ES43ACmi) locomotives for SimFer’s Simandou iron ore project in Guinea worth more than Rs 3,000 crore are being manufactured. Simandou will be Africa’s largest mining project. “In the current financial year, 37 locomotives will be exported, another 82 locomotives will be shipped out in 2026-27 and the remaining 31 locomotives in the third year,” said an official.Though the Marhowrah diesel locomotive factory (DLF) was announced by then railway minister Lalu Prasad, it remained inactive. Spread over 70 acres, the factory was established in 2018 to indigenously manufacture 1,000 state-of-the-art locomotives. The annual production capacity of the factory is over 100 locomotives.The contract to export the locomotives was awarded to Wabtec Locomotive Private Ltd, a joint venture between Indian Railways and US-based Wabtec Corporation. All these locomotives will have AC cabs. Each locomotive will have a single cab. Two locomotives together can carry the load of 100 wagons with maximum permissible speed. “For manufacturing of these locomotives, three types of tracks — broad gauge, standard gauge and Cape guage have been laid in Marhowrah premises,” said another railway official.Officials said with the Indian Railway network achieving full electrification, there is a huge scope for exporting diesel locos to countries where there is demand. “It’s an opportunity to increase our export of locos that match the best standard across the globe. For Bihar, it will be a big milestone,” said an official.