From The Hindu Archives, March 31, 1976: Indian wagon assembly unit in Iran favoured

New Delhi, March 30: Iran will be the best location for a railway wagon assembly plant to be set up for purposes of export orders, according to a project report written for the Union Ministry of Industry and Civil Supplies.

The report written by Wagon India (Private) Limited, New Delhi has estimated that the assembly unit can be set up in 24 months at a total capital cost of Rs. 343.58 lakhs with an assembly capacity of 5,000 four-wheel wagons and employing about 260 employees.

A limitation that the Government will have to face, if a decision is taken to go ahead with this project, is that Iran has already awarded a contract to Simmering Graz-Pauker of Austria, to design and construct a plan for production of 1,000 wagons per year. This plant is expected to go into operation in 1976. “Implementation of this projecy,” says the report, “will not only affect the prospects of export of wagons to Iran but will also have to be kept in view while considering the location of an assembly plant in one of the countries in West Asia.”

The desirability of setting up a wagon assembly plant abroad began to engage the serious attention of the Heavy Industry Ministry, because of the very heavy freight incurred on the export of complete wagons.