RITES eyeing Africa for exporting ageing diesel locos

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Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. New Delhi: State-run railway engineering and consulting company RITES Ltd proposes to expand its global footprint, targeting exports of Indian Railways’ underutilized and surplus diesel locos to over a dozen countries in Africa.

The national transporter’s export arm has already bagged two orders worth ₹90 crore this year for suppling diesel locomotives to South Africa. And based on the interest from other markets, RITES is looking at striking deals for these diesel locos, which still have 15-20 years of life left, from other neighbouring countries in Africa, RITES chairman and managing director Rahul Mithal said in an interview.

Also read | Railway company RITES to expand global footprint “The South African orders for diesel locos is a huge breakthrough for us as the Cape gauge converted diesel locos also have a demand in about 12-13 countries which also run railways on similar systems. Our two pilots in South Africa will determine the pace at which we capture opportunities for exports of 200-300 diesel locos or more to other African markets," Mithal said.

RITES is looking to scale up the share of exports in its revenue to 20-25% in the next couple of years, and orders for diesel locos would help it fast-track scaling up export revenue. These engines remains largely underutilized after Indian Railways’ electrification drive that has now covered almost its entire network of 70,000km.

Apart from diesel locos, RITES also proposes to export its rolling stock and consultancy services to Southeast Asia, Africa, West Asia and Latin America. The company, which started FY24 with an export order book of less than ₹100 crore, received another export order ₹300 crore last year and has been on a