Title - Czech firm to set up Indian JV to make rail wheelsets

A world leader in manufacture of railway wheelsets, Czech company Bonatrans group, will set up a 100 per cent Indian subsidiary to produce the wheelsets in Aurangabad in Maharashtra.The largest manufacturer of railway wheelsets in Europe has been supplying wheelsets to Indian railways since 1992. It has so far supplied 50,000 wheelsets to Indian railways, metros and suburban coaches as well.“We will be investing Rs 200 crore in the project and we plan to roll out wheels from Indian plants by 2015,” Bonatrans managing director Jakub Weimann told Financial Chronicle.“The company has 30-40 per cent share in supply of wheelsets to Indian Railways and metros together and we hope to gradually take it to 50 per cent,” Weimann said.Nine Czech companies participated in the 10th International Railway Equipment Exhibition, displaying leading rail technologies like wheelsets, pneumatic and electric doors, traction motors, components for passenger and freight transport, innovative solutions in logistics and railway storage infrastructure.

The Czech exhibitors included ACRI Association, CSAD Uherske Hradiste, DAKO CZ, Pars Komponenty, PROMAN, Skoda Electric, TOS Kurim OS and VUKV.

The Czech railway industry has a 180-year old tradition of using new technologies with high labour efficiency, which guarantees a stable position within Europe, a Czech embassy statement said.

The members of the Association of the Czech Railway Industry (ACRI) employs more than 22,000 people in the Czech Republic with an annual turnover of more than EUR 3.3 billion, of which exports account for 47 per cent.

“The railway industry has always been pulling the Czech economy up, and nothing has changed,” said Marie Alžběta Vopálenská, executive director of ACRI.

Skoda already has a facility in Aurangabad for manufacture of cars. “Yes, this is one of the reasons for chosing Aurangabad for our plant as well,” Weimann said.

“We have already acquired 80 acres land for the project and work has begun,” he said adding that the demand for wheelsets would grow in India with the ambitious plans of Indian railways to several (7-8) dedicated freight corridors and several cities going in for metro rail projects.

“We would supplying wheelsets for all gauges including broad gauge by Indian Railways and broad and standard gauges used by metro rail,” he said.

Czech railway manufactures export most of their products and services to the EU, but increasingly also to Russia and Asia. Their products, such as train control systems, locomotives and tram cars, are of the highest European standard.