Defence Ministry PSU in talks with Hitachi to give bullet trains a desi makeover

BEML, a PSU under the defence ministry, is keen to enter the business of part indigenisation of bullet train components for which it has entered into an agreement with Japanese company Hitachi, a company official said.

Bullet train operations are proposed to commence by 2023 between Mumbai and Ahmedabad with the help of Japanese investments and technology and the government had already formed the National High Speed Railway Corporation to execute the project.

"It is a very complicated technology. We are eager to do a portion of indigenisation of the train components and slowly absorb the technology", CMD of BEML D K Hota said.

BEML had recently entered into an agreement with Hitachi of Japan in this regard, Hota told reporters on the sidelines of a CII event on Friday.

As per the plan, out of the 24 rakes comprising 240 coaches which would run between Mumbai and Ahmedabad, ten would be manufactured in India.

BHEL was the other PSU which had entered into a similar agreement with another Japanese firm, Kawasaki.

"We will be ready for supplies once we get the order from the government", Hota said.

The project is estimated to cost Rs 1.1 lakh crore (US$17 billion).

BEML, which is also involved in other verticals like manufacture of defence and mining and construction equipment, had supplied metro rakes for East-West Metro in Kolkata, Bangalore Metro and Delhi Metro.