KEC Sets Up New Railway Conductor Manufacturing Unit at Its Vadodara Plant
KEC International, the EPC major, inaugurated its new railway conductors manufacturing facility at Vadodara, Gujarat. This new facility is a part of the company’s already existing fully integrated Cables manufacturing unit.
KEC’s New Railway Conductors Plant Strategic to its OHE Contracts
KEC’s new facility will be manufacturing conductors to be used in Over Head Electrification (OHE) of railways. KEC’s new facility will be manufacturing contact and catenary railway conductors, which are key in OHE. As per the company, it is currently working on more than 50 OHE contracts.
According to KEC, this new unit is part of the company’s backward integration strategy, wherein the production of railway conductors would aid the execution of its own railway OHE contracts.
In FY-22, KEC secured new railway orders worth over RS. 2,500 crore, which was a 46% Y-o-Y growth. Several of these orders involved OHE as a part of the government’s ‘Mission Raftaar’.
KEC’s Railway Electrification Work under Indian Railways’ ‘Mission Raftaar’
KEC has been undertaking OHE contracts from Indian Railways under ‘Mission Raftaar’, which is a programme that was launched in 2016 for railway speed up-gradation in India.
As per KEC International, the company has electrified about 40% of Indian Railways so far, spanning 17,000 Route Km. In FY-22 alone, KEC electrified 1,441 Route Km of Indian Railways which is about 23% of new railway electrification done in 2021-2022. This is in line with the Indian Government’s target of 100% railway electrification by 2030, which will help improve the efficiency of train operations and reduce carbon emissions.
About KEC International Ltd.: KEC International Ltd. is an Indian multinational company and the flagship company of the RPG group. The Maharashtra-headquartered company is one of the major EPC players in the country, and its portfolio consists of civil, railway, transmission & distribution, and cable segments. KEC has its presence in 105 countries, and in FY-22 it clocked a total income of Rs. 13,755.69 crore.