India?s infrastructure sector needs a massive investment of over $1 trillion in the coming years to hit the next level of growth. A major chunk of this has to come from either public-private partnerships or private sector projects. Speaking to Bijay Shankar Patel and Subhash Narayan, French engineering group Alstom Transport Asia Pacific’s senior vice-president Dominique Pouliquen says though India is lagging behind China in terms of the development cycle of the railway system, it has huge potential.

You have plans of setting up manufacturing units in India. Is it for diversifying the local market risk or is it a strategy keeping in mind India?s geographical location to meet the requirements of the neighbouring regions?

Proximity is the key for a variety of reasons. These include time management, understanding the local context as well as the procurement capabilities, besides services that can be provided in terms of maintenance activities, spare parts, etc. All these elements are fundamentally important for the market. Derived from these, we can decide the base for other projects in the region.

Is the work on the Sri City metro coach factory on in full swing?

We started construction in the middle of the last year. The civil facilities are ready and we should be starting production towards this year end. We have a contractual commitment to deliver towards the end of 2013, so we have time.

Are you also turning to railways for signaling?

Alstom provides audio frequency track circuits to the railways. The railways is just in the discussion stage as far as going to the next level of technology is concerned. In terms of the current technology, it is quite self-sufficient ? much better than a lot of domestic players.

But they are talking of safety standards…

Yes, they are talking of bringing in some sort of safety standards. So, that is an area where we can do something. But it all depends on when and how the railways intends to launch and implement them. As and when they do, we are ready. We are holding discussions with the railways on this.

What about the high-speed rail corridors that railways has been talking about…

We are a leading player in the high-speed segment. Studies have been launched in India. We are talking about the six corridors that can be developed with high-speed solution. There is a high-speed rail organisation that has been designed to assess the feasibility and the financial viability of the system.

How do you see the growth happening in India when it comes to the specific business of rail infrastructure? Are we lagging behind China?

In terms of the cycle of development on the railway system, it is a fact that India is lagging behind China. For example, in terms of the mainline investment, China has built close to 1,000 km per annum since 2000. So, if you take the number of the main-line km that we have in China, it is close to 10,000 km ? new main lines which are now operational, whether they are freight, high speed, or very high speed. So, it does highlight the dynamics. In terms of metro, to give you a broad number, a minimum of 15 new metro lines are launched every year in China. We can definitely compare the two in terms of population, number of cities, etc. However, can we achive this in India? The answer is yes.

The pace is a bit slow…

The pace is different. There is definitely demand and we do realise at Alstom that we have to address it. The timing is different and so is the pace. However, you do see more and more projects arising in India. We anticipate new metro lines in the coming years in India for sure. So, yes, we can say that in terms of cycle, it is different from China, but it will happen in India too.