Titagarh Rail Systems Limited is an Indian

rolling stock The term rolling stock in the rail transport industry refers to railway vehicles, including both powered and unpowered vehicles: for example, locomotives, Railroad car#Freight cars, freight and Passenger railroad car, passenger cars (or coaches) ...

manufacturer. Established in 1997 as a rolling stock foundry unit, the company's headquarters are situated in

Kolkata Kolkata, also known as Calcutta ( its official name until 2001), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of West Bengal. It lies on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River, west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary ...

West Bengal West Bengal (; Bengali language, Bengali: , , abbr. WB) is a States and union territories of India, state in the East India, eastern portion of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal, along with a population of over 91 million inhabi ...

. Titagarh is

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on both the

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(BSE) and National Stock Exchange (NSE). Going forward, the founder decided to add a bit more value to his propositions. He ventured into making entire wagons that would be used for freight, before that it used to manufacture railway components. The core operations of the company encompass providing freight wagons, semi high-speed trains, metros, transit and propulsion systems, and passenger coaches for the

Indian Railways Indian Railways is a state-owned enterprise that is organised as a departmental undertaking of the Ministry of Railways (India), Ministry of Railways of the Government of India and operates India's national railway system. , it manages the fou ...

and for the export markets as well. In addition to the design, manufacture & supply of 102 metro coaches for the Pune Metro and the largest ever order for procurement of 24,177 wagons which are under execution, the company has been awarded prestigious orders by the Indian Railways for the manufacture and maintenance of Vande Bharat Trains and Wheels for the same under the Atma Nirbhar and Make in India initiatives of the

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and is a significant enabler for railway infrastructure of the country. Beyond its substantial engagement in the railway sector, Titagarh holds business interests in shipbuilding, bridges, and defence. Its major rivals in railway division are Alstom, BEML, CAF etc.

Overview

Context

The founder of Titagarh Rail Systems, Jagadish Prasad Chowdhary, commenced his professional journey as an account assistant at a tea estate in

Darjeeling Darjeeling (, , ) is a city in the northernmost region of the States and union territories of India, Indian state of West Bengal. Located in the Eastern Himalayas, it has an average elevation of . To the west of Darjeeling lies the Koshi Pr ...

, West Bengal. Subsequently, he relocated to Calcutta (now Kolkata) and assumed the role of an accountant at a steel casting company that supplied materials to the Indian Railways. Chowdhary eventually assumed the position of Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the steel castings company. In the year 1982, Chowdhary as an entrepreneur acquired the defunct foundry division of the government-owned Britannia Engineering then under liquidation, situated in Titagarh, Barrackpore, West Bengal. Renaming the enterprise as Titagarh Steels Limited (TSL), he commenced production of railway casting components, specifically bogies and couplers & crossings and turned around the operations of the Foundry in a record time. In 1994, Chowdhary was invited to present a rehabilitation plan for the two Paper Mills of the then sick Titagarh Paper Mills Company Limited which were vested in TSL by a Scheme of Rehabilitation by the Board for Industrial and Financial Reconstruction (BIFR). Subsequently, these Paper Mills were spun off into two separate companies through a Scheme of Arrangement sanctioned by the Hon’ble High Court, Calcutta.

Development

Chowdhary founded Titagarh Rail Systems Limited on 3 July 1997 to manufacture railway wagons. The company started out with an annual production capacity of 180 wagons. In July 2010, Titagarh Rail Systems purchased the French rail wagon maker Arbel Fauvet Rail (AFR) for €15 million (first overseas acquisition), which had gone into

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in February 2009. Titagarh Rail Systems turned around AFR and with the subsidiary's revenue rising from in 2010–11 to in 2011–12, and the employee headcount almost doubling from 85 to 150. A French commercial court ordered the

liquidation Liquidation is the process in accounting by which a Company (law), company is brought to an end. The assets and property of the business are redistributed. When a firm has been liquidated, it is sometimes referred to as :wikt:wind up#Noun, w ...

of AFR in July 2019. The next month, Titagarh announced that it would exit from AFR. Vice-chairman and managing director, Umesh Chowdhary, stated that AFR had been making losses of €4–5 million a year for the past three years due to general economic factors, and would have required more capital to reach profitability. Titagarh Rail Systems had invested in AFR since acquiring the company. Titagarh Rail Systems acquired Corporated Shipyard in 2012 and merged it in Titagarh Marines to manufacture ships for the

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. Corporated Shipyard won its first defence contract in 2017. In 2015, Titagarh Rail Systems acquired the brand name and

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of French cast steel bogie manufacturer Sambre et Meuse. On 16 July 2015, Titagarh acquired a 90% stake in Italian rail equipment firm Firema Trasporti for an estimated million. The remaining 10% stake was held by Italian company Adler Plastics SpA. In June 2017, Titagarh announced that it had acquired the 10% stake from Adler Plastics for an undisclosed amount. The company was subsequently renamed as Titagarh Firema SpA. Titagarh Firema designs metro rail coaches and manufactures them at its factories at

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, Spello and Tito. In May 2016, Titagarh Rail Systems formed a 50/50 joint venture with French Matiere SAS to manufacture metallic and modular bridges. Titagarh Rail Systems acquired Matiere's stake in July 2020, making it a wholly-owned subsidiary. In 2019, Titagarh Rail Systems was awarded the contract to supply 102 aluminium bodied metro rail coaches for the Pune Metro by Maha Metro. While 3 of the total 34 rakes would be manufactured at the Firema plant in

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, the remaining 31 trainsets would be manufactured at TRSL's facility in Uttarpara, Kolkata. In April 2023, the company secured a contract to supply rolling stock for the Ahmedabad Metro. In February 2024, the company secured a contract for supplying 250 specialized wagons to the

Ministry of Defence A ministry of defence or defense (see American and British English spelling differences#-ce.2C -se, spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is the part of a government responsible for matters of defence and Mi ...

. In March 2024, the company secured a contract for supplying 4463 BOSM Wagons to the Ministry of Railways. the company was looking for to construct a greenfield shipyard to construct larger ships, both naval and commercial.

Financials

Titagarh Rail Systems Limited reported a total income of during the financial year ended 31 March 2024 as compared to during the financial year ended 31 March 2023. The company posted a net profit of for the financial year ended 31 March 2024 as against a profit of for the financial year ended 31 March 2023.

Subsidiaries

* Titagarh Singapore Pte. Ltd. Singapore * Titagarh Firema Engineering Services Private Limited.

Joint ventures

* Titagarh Rail Systems Limited– Ramkrishna Forgings * Titagarh Rail Systems Limited–

BHEL Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL) is an Indian central public sector undertaking and the largest government-owned electrical/ industrial technology company. It is owned by the Government of India, with administrative control under ...

* Shivaliks Mercantile Private Limited * Titagarh Mermac Private Limited

Associate Company

* Titagarh Firema SpA, Italy

Products and services

* Freight Rail Systems: Rolling stock, Components (Bogies, Couplers, Locomotive shells, Gears); * Passenger Rail Systems: Rolling stock (Electric locomotives,

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trainsets, DEMU trainsets, Metros, Light rail transports, Body shells, Bogies, Propulsion & electrical equipment); * Shipbuilding: Coastal research vessels, Naval vessels, Passenger ships, Tugs, Inland vessels; * Defence: Bailey bridges, Defence * Safety & Signaling Systems: Train control, Condition monitoring, Vehicular & train mounted solutions

References

{{Reflist Defence companies of India Coach and wagon manufacturers of India Companies based in Kolkata Indian companies established in 1997 Shipbuilding companies of India Vehicle manufacturing companies established in 1997 1997 establishments in West Bengal Companies listed on the National Stock Exchange of India Companies listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange Freight wagons manufacturers Titagarh Rail Systems