A widely circulated social media post praises the Modi government’s ‘Make in India’ initiative, claiming that 22 metro trains recently made operational in Sydney were manufactured in India (here & here). This article aims to fact-check the authenticity of this news.
Claim: Recently, 22 metro trains that became operational in Sydney were manufactured in India as part of the ‘Make in India’ initiative.
Fact: This is old news. The train manufacturing contract was awarded to the French company Alstom in 2014. Using its facility in Andhra Pradesh, Alstom assembled these trains and delivered the last of the 22 Metropolis trains for Sydney Metro in December 2018. Hence the claim made in the post is MISLEADING.
It is true that an India-based manufacturing unit of a French company Alstom delivered 22 trains for Sydney’s newly inducted driverless metro project between Tallawong and Chatswood. However, this is old news, and importantly, these trains were not manufactured in India but assembled there. An internet search with relevant keywords led to multiple news reports from 2019 covering the same news. According to these reports, in December 2018, the French train manufacturing company Alstom, through its facility in Andhra Pradesh, delivered the last of the 22 Metropolis trains for Sydney Metro.
In a press release, Alstom stated that they won a contract to deliver 22 six-car train sets, along with the CBTC signalling system, for the Northwest Rail Link—Australia’s largest public transport project and first fully automated metro network. Alstom completed the delivery of the last of these 22 Metropolis trains for Sydney Metro on schedule from its Sricity facility in Andhra Pradesh.
A few more news articles confirming that these trains were assembled in India can be viewed here and here. These articles establish that the currently viral news is old from the year 2018.
To sum up, a 2018 report of metro train coaches delivery to Sydney Metro from India is shared as a recent development.
