RITES eyes global market for refurbished Indian Railways diesel locomotives

Published 6 August 2026 · india

State-run railway engineering and consultancy firm RITES Ltd is preparing to open a much larger export market for Indian Railways’ surplus diesel locomotives by developing

State-run railway engineering and consultancy firm RITES Ltd is preparing to open a much larger export market for Indian Railways’ surplus diesel locomotives by developing a standard-gauge version of the country’s in-service locomotives. The move could pave the way for sales across Australia, Europe, the Americas and parts of Africa, said a senior official aware of the matter. The initiative comes on the back of RITES’s successful development of Cape gauge variants of Indian Railways’ broad-gauge diesel locomotives for South Africa, demonstrating that locomotives nearing the end of their domestic utility can be refurbished and adapted for overseas markets instead of being retired. RITES chairman and managing director Rahul Mithal told Mint in an interview that the company, working closely with Indian Railways, is now developing a prototype of a standard-gauge version of the in-service diesel locomotive for an Australian customer. The prototype is expected to be ready shortly for testing and validation. Unlike India, which operates on the 1,676-mm broad gauge, most railway networks around the world use the 1,435-mm standard gauge. This has historically prevented Indian Railways’ locomotives from being exported without extensive modification. Also Read | RITES eyeing Africa for exporting refurbished diesel locos The ongoing project seeks to overcome that hurdle by redesigning the locomotive’s running gear while retaining the proven powertrain and other critical systems.

“Once the prototype is approved by the customer, we see significant opportunities to offer these locomotives in other standard-gauge markets,” Mithal said, noting that once validated in Australia, the design can be replicated for other customers with relatively few modifications. Standard gauge is the most widely used railway configuration globally, deployed across Europe, the Americas, East Asia, and several African nations. Surplus fleet & monetization strategy The project marks the next phase of RITES’s strategy to monetize Indian Railways’ surplus diesel fleet at a time when the national transporter is aggressively electrifying its network. As electrification expands, hundreds of diesel locomotives that still have substantial operational life are expected to become available for redeployment. According to official estimates, Indian Railways has more than 10,000 electric and 5,000 diesel locomotives in its network. According to Mithal, many of these diesel locomotives still have another 10-15 years of useful service left, making them attractive for freight operators, mining companies and industrial users that continue to depend on diesel traction. “The biggest demand is for freight movement, particularly transportation of minerals from mines to ports and industrial locations. Several countries continue to rely on diesel locomotives for such operations,” Mithal said.