Wabtec expands Indian Railways support with Siliguri service hub

Wabtec and Indian Railways have marked the start of locomotive service operations at a new maintenance facility in eastern India, strengthening support for freight operations serving the country’s northeast.

The Siliguri Maintenance Shed in West Bengal expands Wabtec’s service footprint in the region and introduces a new maintenance model in India, making use of existing Indian Railways infrastructure and workforce alongside Wabtec’s technical expertise.

The facility will support a fleet of 250 Wabtec Evolution Series locomotives operated by Indian Railways. Under the arrangement, Wabtec will be responsible for routine maintenance activities, technical supervision, materials and warehouse management, logistics, shed control and remote diagnostics. The locomotives are deployed on key freight corridors, hauling commodities including food grains, fertilisers, cement and container traffic along the strategic route serving eight northeastern states.

Wabtec said the shed will play an important role in maintaining reliability on freight services that form a critical gateway to India’s northeast and onward links towards Southeast Asia. The company is one of the largest rail equipment manufacturers operating in India and currently employs around 3,000 people across the country.

The Siliguri site adds to Wabtec’s existing locomotive maintenance operations at Roza, Gandhidham and Gooty, which together provide service support for a total of 1,000 Wabtec locomotives in operation across the Indian Railways network.

Sandeep Selot, Managing Director and Vice President, Wabtec Freight Business said:

“The Siliguri Maintenance Shed represents another milestone in our partnership with Indian Railways. It will play a critical role in supporting reliability and availability of state-of-art locomotives deployed for border and strategic operations in the Northeast region of India and the gateway to Southeast Asia. This shed adds to our existing maintenance operations at Roza, Gandhidham, and Gooty, which combined will service Indian Railways’ 1,000 Wabtec locomotives across the country.”

Rajneesh Sah, Senior Director, Freight Services, Wabtec said:

“The Siliguri shed represents a unique partnership where Indian Railways provides the infrastructure and manpower, while Wabtec leads the technical supervision to ensure the fleet meets the key performance metrics including availability, reliability, and fuel efficiency. We are focused on implementing maintenance practices that drive faster turnaround for the locomotive fleet in the critical Northeast region.”

Image: Wabtec