Alstom wins 2.8-bln-euro Indian railway contract

First five locomotives will be imported and remaining 795 made in new factory

NEW DELHI: French company Alstom has won a contract worth 2.8 billion euros ($3 billion) to supply India's rail operator with electric locomotives, a source at the state-owned Indian railway company said on Tuesday.

Alstom is to deliver 800 locomotives over 10 years. It will produce the locomotives, destined for freight trains, in a factory that it will build in the eastern Bihar state, the source told AFP.

The first five locomotives will be imported and the remaining 795 made in the new factory, the Press Trust of India agency reported.

On Monday, General Electric said it had won a $2.6 billion contract to supply 1,000 diesel locomotives to the Indian railway operator.

The Indian government has pledged to invest $137 billion to modernise the country's vast rail network over the next five years.