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Railways: Dream, Design & Make in India.
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If we aspire to shift our man and material shipment on to rail, it is imperative to have structures which foster internalisation of technology...
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Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ambitious vision of leadership in railway technology, seen with the ‘Make in India’ initiative, presents very interesting possibilities. Make in India is a war cry and in it lies embedded the need of Dream in India and Design in India. Leadership in railway technology isn’t just about railways; this development would be inset in the larger industrial landscaping being envisioned and boldly attempted. Ease of doing business translates into creation of an enabling ecosystem for Dream, Design & Make in India.
Underscoring this vision, the Railway Budget presented this February, announced setting up of four railway research centres in association with universities and one chair in material science in honour of Pt. Madan Mohan Malviya at IIT(BHU). Further, national initiatives in mission mode on Electric Vehicles, Smart Cities and Smart Grids have been rolled out —these are the fields which see immense research efforts across the world. In these three fields lie humanity’s attempt to rewire and hard reboot the urban milieu.
As the country seeks economic salvation in technology-led growth with railroads being central to this vision, it is imperative that we examine the current state of affairs, juxtaposed with the story of the emergence of the Chinese as railway technology exporters and figure out the path accordingly. Also, we need to examine the monies involved and whether we can leverage domestic needs to create the competence being looked at.
On 14 November 1998, Chittaranjan Locomotive Works became second in Asia (after Japan) to have manufactured a modern 6,000 HP electric locomotive with solid state drive (this railway factory was dedicated in the memory of Deshbandhu Chittaranjan Das on the day we declared ourselves a republic—26 January 1950—and was created with the ambition of becoming self-sufficient in locomotives; being able to make a locomotive was swavlamban personified).
This was one of the finest example of Make in India, as the technology received from Europe was transferred to several private and public entities and a whole new breed of vendors were exposed to the world’s best manufacturing practices and technology. Come 2008, India was once again in the market for electric locomotive technology, and this time apart from the Japanese, the Chinese were serious contenders!
The story of those intervening 10 years is the story of China’s determination to be counted amongst the world’s leading locomotive players, instead of having to live through the ignominy of standing in the market as a yachak. All in a short span of 10 years.
It is instructive to note that the China jumpstarted its locomotive sector about the same time as India and with the same technology providers. But, if the next 10 years were largely downhill for us, for them, they just claimed all that they could survey. Chinese rolling stock has already come into India in a metro system.