International Railroad Discussion > India Balking at GE Order for 1000 Diesel Locomotives

India has had a change in government, and now the new Transportation Minister has requested that GE work with them to change the 2015 contract for 1000 Diesel locomotives to 1000 electric locomotives. GE is balking at the change.....they haven't built a new electric locomotive in forty (?) years. The first of the new diesels has been shipped from the U.S. and is due to be unloaded in India in mid-October. (The majority of the locomotives were to be built in India.) Time to kick-back and see who wins this one.

This could get interesting if there is a contract in place, as long range commitments for diesel components must have been made by GE.

Nobody wants to honour international agreements these days!

There was a huge fight over the GE "technology transfer" as India would receive the plans and the OK to train people on building the locomotives.

Same issue as building F-16 fighters in India. While they won't have the newest technology, they're getting a lot.

Lackawanna484 Wrote:
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> Same issue as building F-16 fighters in India.
> While they won't have the newest technology,
> they're getting a lot.

That's for sure - the genesis of the F-16 was in 1971.

Ray

Ray_Murphy Wrote:
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> Lackawanna484 Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Same issue as building F-16 fighters in India.
> > While they won't have the newest technology,
> > they're getting a lot.
>
> That's for sure - the genesis of the F-16 was in
> 1971.
>
> Ray

There's been a few "upgrades" since then. The newest avionics technology is what they're to protect for as long as they can.

Maybe TATA Group will buy GE Transportation?

with all of the "coal fired power plants" being built, electric locomotives make sense......

66

goneon66 Wrote:
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> with all of the "coal fired power plants" being
> built, electric locomotives make sense......
>
> 66


The Indians are also building hydro plants. One problem is an old, unreliable grid to deliver power.

Posted from Android

Who in their right mind would buy a thousand electrics from a company that hasn't built a single one in decades?

Not to mention trying to FORCE GE to build them, when GE is clearly trying to get out of the locomotive business altogether. Just cancel the damn thing and call the sales forces in Germany, France, China, wherever.

OK, I'll admit that the rivalry with China probably rules out option 3. But there certainly are firms out there that can supply lots of electric power.

march_hare Wrote:
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> Who in their right mind would buy a thousand
> electrics from a company that hasn't built a
> single one in decades?
>
> Not to mention trying to FORCE GE to build them,
> when GE is clearly trying to get out of the
> locomotive business altogether. Just cancel the
> damn thing and call the sales forces in Germany,
> France, China, wherever.
>
> OK, I'll admit that the rivalry with China
> probably rules out option 3. But there certainly
> are firms out there that can supply lots of
> electric power.

India is perfectly capable of building electric locomotives, they have been doing so quite successfully for decades, I presume this is an attempt to save face, the Modi government, which incidentally has been in power for three years, doesn't actually want GE to build electrics for them, but they don't want the diesels either and they don't want to be seen breaking agreements with multi nationals like GE, so this farce ensues.

OK, as usual, the more cynical interpretation makes more sense. Thanks for the perspective.