Indian Railways, as part of embarking joint ventures with private players to manufacture locomotives and passenger coaches, have invited global tenders to identify suitable partners for its ventures.

Talking to reporters at Tiruchirapalli on Wednesday, Raj Kamal Rao, member (mechanical) Railway Board, said the joint ventures were for passenger coach manufacturing facility at Rae Bareilly in Uttar Pradesh, a diesel locomotive manufacturing unit at Madora in Bihar and for production of electric locomotives at Modepura in Bihar.

These units were expected to come up within the next three years, with the actual investments being nearly Rs 2,200 crore (Rs 22 billion), he said.

The railway was in the process of producing stainless steel goods wagons instead of the mild steel ones, he said.