Russia Building High Speed Trains And Railway Line For India

Russia is helping India to build high speed electric trains, according to Deputy Prime Minister Denis Manturov after talks with his counterpart, Subrahmanyam Jaishankar in Moscow. Russia is looking at collaborating with India on train manufacturing, potentially for export back to Russia, the CIS countries, and Africa.

Russia’s Transmashholdings (TMH) is the Russian interested party, being the largest manufacturer of locomotives and rail equipment in Russia and the fourth largest transport technology engineering in the world.

TMH CEO Kirill Lipa elaborated on the plan at the company’s Moscow headquarters. “The current interest rate in India (ed: India: 5.5%, Russia 18%) is very different from other countries. So, we are interested and ready to invest in India. We are interested in developing several facilities in India, which are capable of providing certain components and we think some of them can be supplied to the Russian market.”

In India, TMH is the majority stakeholder in Kinet Railway Solutions, which holds a railway carriage development contract with Indian Railways. This contract covers the production and 35-year maintenance of 1,920 Vande Bharat sleeper coaches. TMH previously noted that the total value of the deal is potentially US$6.5 billion. The contract also includes 35 years of rolling stock maintenance.

“This means that three generations of Indian engineers and workers will be working on it.” Lipa noted in an interview with Indian media.

*Vande Bharat Sleeper Train compartment. Designed by Kinet*

Kinet Railway Solutions is a joint venture between Indian Railways’ subsidiary Rail Vikas Nigam Limited (RVNL), Russia’s Metrowagonmash and Locomotive Electronic Systems (both part of TMH).

Production of the Vande Bharat carriages was launched in Latur at the Marathwada Rail Coach Factory (MRCF).

Lipa also said that TMH is also sourcing parts outside of Russia for this project. “We found basic suppliers within India and other countries which are more or less oriented for the relationship between India and Russia.” He added that the current sanctions on Russia will not impact the project, adding “The first two prototypes of a high-speed train being built with Russian participation in India will be manufactured in 2026.”

An Indian railway ministry official said that “Russia also has huge domestic requirements and for that they want to set up manufacturing facilities here. They want to get these supplies from India.”

With this in mind, TMH is thinking about developing an educational program that will allow employees involved in the project to work both at home in India and in Russia and other countries, with Lipa adding “We see India not just as a market, but as a potential manufacturing center to serve other regions, especially African countries, given India’s advanced manufacturing capabilities and its strategic location.”

Russian Railways has also become involved in India, and developed a feasibility study for a project to modernize the Nagpur-Secunderabad section to increase the to 200 km per hour. The length of the reconstructed railway line is 575 km, with the route part of a network that links Delhi with Chennai. Russian Railways intends to participate in the construction of the line, potentially through an intergovernmental agreement.