Scomi Group a leading provider of urban transit systems across the globe focusing on the emerging markets of India, Brazil, China, Gulf States and Brazil announced the completion of the first monorail car for the Mumbai Monorail project. The car left its manufacturing facility in Malaysia on January 2, en route to Mumbai.
Mr Suhaimi Yaacob president of Scomi India said that “The first Monorail car will play a pivotal role in the preliminary systems interface testing, which is critical in ensuring that the Monorail system runs smoothly. The timely delivery of the first car is a reflection of the capabilities, commitment and reliability of Scomi in meeting our key milestones exactly as planned to meet the client requirements. The considerable efforts made by Scomi and our entire international team in Malaysia and India have made this possible in record time.”
He further added that “Our new state of the art facility in North Kuala Lumpur has the capacity to handle two more projects concurrently and we have plans to expand our manufacturing expertise into other emerging markets where the demand for our transportation solution arises. We believe the Mumbai monorail system will provide sustainable mobility, reduce urban congestion, improve reliability and journey comfort for commuters.”
Scomi Engineering Bhd and its consortium partner Larsen & Toubro secured the USD 545.02 million from Mumbai Monorail Project in November 2008. Scomi Engineering and L&T are given 30 months to complete the first Monorail project in India. For this contract, Scomi will deliver a total of 60 cars to make up 15 sets of 4 car trains.
All the Monorail cars are being manufactured at Scomi’s Engineering, Technology and Innovation Centre located in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia where Scomi has recently invested over USD 11.80 million to upgrade this manufacturing facility. ETIC has a built up area of 150,000 sq ft which is able to house a 12-station monorail and a 16-station electrical multiple unit rail car assembly line that is capable of producing a car body every 5 to 7 days in a single shift. ETIC also has a 1 kilometer Monorail test track for conducting full range dynamic and endurance testing.
Scomi Group has been spearheading expansion in the emerging markets of India, China, Gulf States and Brazil. Through its new company Scomi International the Group is accelerating its continued growth as a world-leading manufacturer of innovative transportation solutions especially in Monorail systems. The Group has plans to target other segments like the low floor city buses that run on CNG as a part of its complementary business model to contribute to the Indian urban transportation growth.
Mr Suhaimi further commented that “With our recent recruitment drive in India we have begun the second stage of expansion. We are also conducting special skills training in the area of operations and maintenance ensuring quality workforce with well-equipped technical capabilities before the inaugural monorail service in India by the end of this year.”
