ContiTech Air Spring Systems has been awarded a special order from India, the country with the world’s most extensive interconnected rail system.

In Bombay, the city with the highest passenger density of any urban railway system in the world, the local trains are currently being modernized at the instigation of the Indian ministry of transport.

For the multi-part electric EMU trains (electric multiple unit), ContiTech is supplying significant quantities of air spring systems through its local sales partner Resistoflex. In an initial conversion phase, these air spring systems are to be installed in existing coaches, and in the second phase, they will be integrated in new vehicles as well.

In India, ContiTech also acts as original equipment supplier for the Indian train company RCF and the manufacturer Integral Coach Factory (ICF). “With our partner Resistoflex, who is leading in the market in India, we have a highly advantageous position at the local level and can fill such orders reliably,” reports Friedrich Hoppmann, head of the ContiTech Railway Engineering segment.

The train is the number one means of transportation in India. For example, the RCF train company’s fleet alone consists of more than 40,000 passenger coaches and about a half a million freight cars. There are roughly 63,000 kilometers of tracks in the network. RCF has equipped passenger coaches with air spring systems since 1997. Mass and intercity transport is now gradually benefiting from this technology as well.