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RITES going places on fast track

R. C. Acharya

DIGITAL Terrain Modelling, which works on a platform of MOSS (Mapping Overlay Simulated Systems), and a host of other software packages -- GT-Strudel, Auto-Strudel and Staddpro for Structural Analysis, GT-Silos for Designing Structures for Water fronts, ADAPT for incremental bridge design -- along with associated hardware costing Rs 200 lakh, has in recent times given RITES (Rail Technical and Economic Services) an edge over its competitors in winning a number of contracts.

This enhanced design capability, created over the last couple of years, has been an investment worth every paisa since it enabled RITES to not only to prove its vast superiority in computer-based designing of railways and highways, but also the related a reas of bridges and other structures. Impressed by the RITES's Design Centre, W. S. Atkins lost no time in contracting a team of 65 design personnel and CAD specialists to work at its offshore facility at Sharjah. As a follow up, 40 signal and telecom en gineers are also likely to join them, perhaps through the sister organisation, IRCON (Indian Railway Construction Company).

Railtrack, which owns and maintains the track and infrastructure of the now broken up British Rail, has also found the RITES capability in handling the MX Rail, a software for track designing, meeting its need for setting up a team to upgrade the London- Glasgow route, for which about 10-12 engineers may soon be winging their way to the UK. Close on the heels of W. S. Atkins, another British company, Jarvis, has finalised plans to tap the vast body of RITES trained personnel to work on the upgradation of the signal and telecommunications network of the British Rail.

RITES has also pitched into `Concessioning,' an alternative route increasingly followed for privatisation of PSUs in Latin America and Africa. It has set the ball rolling by partnering Dragadoss, a Spanish group that holds about 65 per cent, with RITES p roviding maintenance requirements of rolling-stock and holding just a 5 per cent stake. Though operating the 1,400 km Atlantic coast from the capital Bogota to the port town of Santa Maria on the Colombian Railways is not going to be easy.

One of the traffic majors -- coal -- is expected to increase from the present 6 million tonnes to over 30 million tonnes in about 10 years, during the course of which around $300 million are expected to be invested, and hopefully, RITES would be playing a vital role providing crucial inputs of technical supervision for maintenance and operations. Simultaneously, efforts are on for providing technical assistance to a similar concession for the 700-km line of Colombian Railways on the Pacific coast.

To a long list of 19 countries where RITES has got the Indian flag flying, Uzbekistan was added last year, when an ADB-funded project for a study to upgrade the existing railway track was undertaken. Undoubtedly, the investment made in the MX Rail softwa re and expertise developed over the last couple of years in using it, is once again going to pay rich dividends.

Though RITES may not be exactly in the big league yet with scores of projects and sale of rolling stock, locomotives it has built up, brick by brick, a sizeable portfolio of varied activities ensuring that ups and downs are evened out, enabling it to pos t steady incremental earnings of over Rs 132 crore, Rs 141 crore and Rs 172 crore for 1997-98, 1998-99 and 1999-2000 respectively, with a dividend of Rs 1.29 crore, Rs 2 crore and Rs 3.2 crore being declared for the corresponding years. Year ending March 31 2000 recorded a modest foreign exchange earning of Rs 52 crore.

The first foray into export of locomotives and rolling stock to African countries by India was made in 1975 with an outright sale of 15 DLW (Diesel Locomotive Works) made 1,300 hp metre gauge diesel locomotives to Tanzania. This has been followed up with a string of orders secured by RITES, the last one being 10 reconditioned metre gauge diesel locomotives to Tanzania for full service leasing for two years which was recently extended by one more year, a good deal in which even Cameroon has now evinced k een interest.

The year 1996-97 saw the first ever supply to Latin America with an order for $300,000 worth of diesel locomotive spares to Chile and Peru, while the US-based RDC (Railway Development Corporation) last year, found it worthwhile to pick up two metre gauge steam locomotives to be put to good use in running its string of heritage trains, thanks to some aggressive marketing by the RITES.

Closer home, 10 such reconditioned and in-service metre gauge diesel locomotives have been supplied to Myanmar, while satisfactory performance of five ordinary coaches air- conditioned by Indian engineers at the Pahartali shop, near Chittagong, may now r esult in a repeat order by Bangladesh. The year 1994-95 saw 10 metre gauge, dual cab (AC/DC), diesel locomotives with a 7-year maintenance contract supplied to Bangladesh, followed by another 10 Broad gauge locomotives contracted for supply in 1999-2000.

Meanwhile apart from the broad gauge diesel locomotives, nearly 10 of which are presently in service with them supplied by RITES over the last decade or so, Sri Lanka found RITES's bridge design capability meeting their needs resulting in an order for th ree bridges of around 120 ft each, the steel fabricated by L&T's structural wing. Following the successful completion of an order for 10 air-conditioned and 5 ordinary metre gauge passenger coaches in 1994-95, RITES has now secured an order for 72 metre gauge coach bogies with wheel sets in 1999-2000 for Vietnam Railways.

In the changed political situation, South Africa is fast emerging a major trading partner with over 22,000 km of its Cape gauge network, a locomotive fleet of over 3,500 and owning about 150,000 wagons could prove to be not only an excellent market but p rovide a bridgehead for exports by the Indian Railways Production units. For along with South Africa are a host of other countries -- Zimbabwe (2,795 km), Zambia (1,273 km), Namibia (2,382 km), Nigeria (3,054 km) -- which between them have nearly 40,000 km of cape gauge, which at 3-6" (1,067 mm) is just 67 mm wider than the Indian Railway's metre gauge, requiring only minor changes in IR's metre gauge designs.

In a bold bid to tap this vast market, especially for locomotives, RITES has now joined hands with IRCON and the DLW to get RDSO (Research Design and Standards Organisation) to develop a design for a 2,300 hp, 12-cylinder unit, manufacture of the prototy pe being taken up by DLW some time in 2001. Once again a bold move to invest in the future, which hopefully would pay off one day.

(The author is former Member (Mechanical), Railway Board.)