Following a complaint by the Western Railway (WR) that retrofitment of old trains was delayed by Siemens, the company has shot back claiming that retrofitment of the old fleet of trains is not within the scope of their contract.

“The job of retrofitment of old fleet of trains is not within the existing contract. However, on the request of Railways, Siemens had submitted a separate proposal in February 2009. It includes installation and commissioning of Siemens electrical equipment for 21 trains to be retrofitted at railway workshops,” said Sagar Joshi, vice president (corporate communications), Siemens.

Earlier, when one rake was to be retrofitted from among the old fleet of trains, WR bought electrical equipment from Siemens. But WR officials claimed that there was no separate contract for purchasing the equipment adding the purchases were made as part of the contract that Integral Coach Factory had awarded to Siemens for new rakes.

Sources said that Siemens had agreed to provide the equipment, but said they would not carry out retrofitment work in Chennai, and that equipment would be supplied to Mahalaxmi workshop. WR officials claim that as Siemens was working on the new rakes in Chennai, they assumed the company would carry out the installation and commissioning work for the old rakes.

Shyam Sunder Gupta, chief public relations officer, WR, said, “No separate contract was made to supply material. For installation and commissioning work, contract is required . At present, the contract is under finalisation.”