Alstom to strengthen Bangalore R&D centre

Alstom Transport is transforming its engineering facility in Bangalore into a global research and development centre.

The company is part of the Euro 20 billion,Parisbased Alstom,a global leader in transport infrastructure,power generation and electrical grids.

Alstom Transport develops and markets a range of systems,equipment and services for the Indian railway sector,some of which include providing signalling systems for the Delhi and Bangalore metro rail totalling 100 kilometers,building metro rail coaches for the Chennai metro,and designing Linke Holfmann Busch coaches for the Shatabdi and Rajdhani.

Alstom Transports Bangalore engineering team of 300 people is engaged in application and product engineering for the companys signalling projects in Europe and in Asia.This centre will be expanded to include a new team focused on research,engineering,and development of coaches,beginning next fiscal.

Henri Poupart-Lafarge,president,Alstom Transport,who was in Bangalore,said that the company planned to increase the headcount at its Bangalore centre to 550 by the end of fiscal 2014.

We will add another 150 engineers for the signalling part and would grow the coaches division by 100 people a year, said Lafarge.

The Bangalore centre will initially focus on developing various systems and sub systems for coaches,both for the Indian and global markets.Over the next four to five years the company expects the centre to reach a level of competence to design and develop a complete coach.

Lafarge added that the company would also increase the headcount at its manufacturing facility in Sri City in Andhra Pradesh to 200 from 120 at present.

The manufacturing unit,established with an investment of Euro 30 million,will manufacture metro rail coaches for the Chennai metro.

Over the next one-year,bids for a host of rail projects that include expansion of the Delhi and Bangalore metros,and initiation of the Ahmedabad and Cochin metros are expected.

There is huge potential in the rail transportation business in India.The country has a large number of cities growing because of urbanization,which today are not equipped with metro connectivity, said Lafarge.