Alain Spohr joined Alstom India few months back with the vision of expanding the company's footprint in the country and for ensuring optimised delivery for on-going projects. Another area that he wishes to work on is ensuring optimised delivery for on-going projects. "Alstom in India is going into 2018 with a strong line-up of deliverables, all being executed on schedule. Especially exciting for us will be the delivery of the first electric locomotive from our Madhepura plant, in early 2018," he says. Introduction of this locomotive in the Indian freight network will be transformational in terms of delivery and life-cycle of the product. He plans to further transform the Indian railways with latest technologies. "We are also looking to introduce new technology like the APPITRACK (automated tracklaying solution) and explore new opportunities in the Indian mobility ecosystem (Eg: for APTIS - a tram-bus, CITADIS - Trams and AXONIS -Light Rail Solution)," he shares.

Spohr envisions to make India the third largest railway network. "With a steady inflow of FDI, Government's push towards adopting new technology and modernisation of the existing network, the Indian Railway network both mainline and urban is growing at a healthy rate. Alstom's growth is in keeping with the growth of the sector and the company hopes to continue to contribute in making India the third largest railway network in the next five years," Spohr concludes.

Spohr's rich career in India spans over 14 years which not only gives him a keen understanding on the country's business environment but also its culture and growth trajectory. In his last role, Spohr was the MD & CEO of the GE/Bharat Forge Joint Venture and the India Country Leader for Steam Power Systems at GE Power. Under his leadership, the company won several turbine projects, totaling approximately $1 billion and also scaled up its knowledge center in the areas of project management, engineering, construction and commissioning.

END