November 21, 2008

Foreign firms eye business from track flaws of Indian Railways

BL reported that a slew of foreign companies such as Australian firm Rail Training International, US based Sperry Rail and Chinese firm Xintao Electronics are eyeing the Indian market with the latest equipment in the specialised space of ultrasonic rail flaw detection.

Both RTI and Sperry Rail plan to provide free trials of their mobile ultrasonic rail inspection vehicles to Indian Railways, which will help test upwards of 150 kilometer of tracks per day and generate detailed reports on the rail track conditions.

Sperry Rail has already made inroads into the Indian market and currently provides a service based on ultrasonic rail inspection walking stick, which tests 7 to 10 kilometer of tracks per day. Instead of selling the equipment, Sperry sold the service of providing detailed flaw detection reports to Indian Railways. Sperry Rail, after providing services to the Railways through an Indian firm, has recently set up its own subsidiary called Sperry Rail India.

Mr Sanjay Manchandani MD of Khyati Nilum Associates, Indian firm that distributes Sperry Rail products, said that "We have conducted tests for over 32,000 kilometer of Indian Railways tracks during 2005-2007. It will be doing business for another 40,000 kilometers of tracks."

Mr Ramakant Tripathi director of ABC Railroad Products said that "We are awaiting commissioner of railway safety approval for the free trial of mobile rail inspection vehicle."

RTI's inspection vehicle, which is being used by several Australian railroads like BHP Billiton, Queensland Rail, Transrail and other railway systems in Brazil, Taiwan and Malaysia, costs about INR 3 crore.

ABC Railroad has also tied up with Chinese firm Xintao Electronics to sell SRT equipment. Hoping to bag the first orders for Xintao SRT equipment from Indian Railways soon, Mr Tripathi said that "We have emerged as the lowest bidder. But there is a financial requirement of the winning firm having provided 150% of the present contract value to Indian Railways, which no new player including us can meet. We are talking to Railway officials on this issue."

Meanwhile, Paras Electronics, an Indian firm that has traditionally provided single rail testers and dual rail testers with analog display to Indian Railways, is also upgrading its equipment to take on competition.

With Paras' equipment, 2 to 4 kilometer of rail tracks can be tested each day. Indian Railways plans to replace the analog single rail testers and dual rail testers by installing 300 digital single rail testers and 200 digital dual rail tester machines over the next 5 years.