India Boosts Global Exports with Metro Coaches and Bogies

Union Railways Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw announced that India is making significant strides in the global railway market, exporting metro coaches to Australia and railway bogies to the United Kingdom, France, Australia, and Saudi Arabia.

Speaking in the Rajya Sabha on Monday, Vaishnaw highlighted the expanding international footprint of Indian Railways, noting that the country is also supplying propulsion systems to multiple European nations, including France, Spain, Germany, and Italy, as well as Mexico and Romania.

“Today, from our country, metro coaches are being exported to Australia. The mechanical structure below the locomotive and coaches, which is called bogie or the underframe, is being exported to the United Kingdom, Saudi Arabia, France, and Australia,” Vaishnaw said.

He added, “Along with this, the propulsion system, an important part of power electronics, is being now exported to France, Mexico, Romania, Spain, Germany, and Italy.” The minister framed these achievements as a matter of national pride, underscoring India’s growing manufacturing prowess under the ‘Make in India’ initiative.

The exports build on earlier successes, with companies like Alstom and Bombardier tapping India’s skilled workforce since 2016 to produce metro coaches in facilities like Savli, Gujarat, for projects such as Sydney Metro. Passenger coaches have also reached Mozambique, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka, while locomotives are shipped to Senegal and Myanmar.

Vaishnaw noted that the Marhowra factory in Bihar, revitalized under PM Narendra Modi, will soon export over 100 locomotives, further cementing India’s role as a rail equipment hub.

This surge reflects a strategic push to meet domestic demand—projected at 2,000 metro trains in the next five years—while scaling exports, positioning Indian Railways among the world’s top freight carriers with a 1.6 billion-tonne target for FY25.