India’s junior railway minister Rajen Gohain will hand over the last of the 18 locomotives being procured under an Indian Line of Credit to Myanmar’s transport and communication minister U Thant Sin Maung on Monday at a ceremony Myanmar’s capital Naypyitaw.
India and Myanmar have long enjoyed close cooperation in the railways sector. Over the last two decades, a large quantity of railways rolling stock consisting of 78 locomotives, 56 coaches and 250 wagons, besides assorted equipment and machinery, has been supplied by India to Myanmar Railways. These supplies have also been backed up by close maintenance and rigorous training support to develop skills and help capacity building.
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Most of these supplies in the railways sector, as well as rehabilitation of the Myanmar railways infrastructure, have been carried out under Indian lines of credit amounting to over $200 million. From the Indian side, RITES Ltd., a Government of India enterprise, has been a principal partner of Myanmar Railways and is currently involved in the supply of the 18 microprocessor controlled locomotives, which have been manufactured at DLW in Varanasi, India.
Monday’s ceremony will be yet another significant milestone in the journey of India-Myanmar railways sector cooperation and enable both sides to look forward confidently to a future of ever closer engagement on other ambitious projects in developing connectivity, upgrading skills and promoting trade and commerce between the two countries.