It isn’t a metro city. Yet, Vadodara ensures that most metros of India run.

Millions in urban India remain on the move everyday because of ‘Made in Baroda’ cars, tyres and even metro rail coaches.

It isn’t a metro city, yet, Vadodara makes most metros of India run. From providing tyres, cars and now even metro coaches, the 50-kilometre radius of vadodara has ensured that millions in urban India remain on the move everyday.

This is the city, which had started its journey by providing small circuit breakers to Indian Railways. Today, the ‘Made in Baroda’ tag has spread to the national capital – Delhi, financial capital – Mumbai and the IT hub Banglore.

Soon, It will ‘power’ pink City Jaipur: Not just India, coaches manufactured from small town – Savli – will ensure that commuters in South Australian capital city Adelaide enjoy a comportable ride in what will be Australia’s most modern trains.

If US carmaker General Motors (GM) was the first automobile giant to come to Gujarat and set up a plant at Halol way back in 1996, country’s largest bike-maker Hero Motocorp Ltd (HMCL) will now drive into the region by parking itself just next to GM investing Rs 1,200 Crore in central Gujarat’s auto pocket.

In early 1990s, Apollo Tyres had already started supplying radial tyres from its Limda plant, which is now its flagship and largest manufacturing facility.

From Limda, where Apollo has invested nearly Rs 2,000 Crore, with a total production capacity of 520 metric tones per day, around 10,000 tyres for commercial vehicles and 15,000 tyres for passenger vehicles roll out everyday.

In recent times, central Gujarat’s share in automobile sector has only increased with RPG Enterprises flagship company CEAT  setting up Rs 700 Crore radial tyre plant at Halol from where it will manufacture 12 million tyres.

In fact, multi nationals like ABB and Bombardier have travelled a full circle in this city.

From the time ABB commenced operations of its first factory at Maneja in 1967 with circuit breakers for railways, this very facility now supplies power transformers, voltage transformers, circuit breakers and service support for maintenance of switch yards to metro projects.

It is the Maneja facility that ‘powers’ the Delhi Metro project executed by Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) and Bangalores metro rail project – Namma metro.

After winning Rs 75 Crore  order from DMRC, ABB will also provide power solutions for Jaipur’s Mass Rapi Transport System which is expected to carry around 11,000 commuters per hour on each rail corridor in Rajasthan’s Capital.

Canadian Bombardier, which had started its first factory to manufactures converters to power trains like Rajdhani in 1997, spread its base by setting up country’s first private metro rail coach factory at Savli in 2008.

With Savli, where for the first time robatic welding technology is being used to manufacture rail coaches – Bombardier Transportation India has created the way for every southeast Asian to travel in metro coaches manufactured from vadodara. While Savli site is presently involve in manufacture and supply of semi-finished FLEXX Metro 3001 coaches for Adelaide’s suburban rail network in Australia, it will also assemble and deliver diesel locomotives to Electro-Motive Diesel, Inc. (EMD) for its export to Southeast Asia and the pacific region.

All these, even as GM India’s Halol plant is presently undergoing capacity expansion. With GM India’s plan to introduce light commercial vehicles going forward, Halol alone will have a capacity of 1,10,000 units.

(Published in Times of India Vadodara on Tuesday February 12 2013)