KOLKATA: Commuters in Kolkata will soon be riding China made subway trains in view of a purchase deal signed by Kolkata Metro with a Chinese company.

The deal has gone to China Railway Rolling Stock Corp Ltd (CRRC), which will supply 14 subway engines and 112 carriages in total to Kolkata, the company said on Tuesday. It will enable Kolkata to replace three decades old subway engines and carriages along the south-north subway line running 23.45 kms.

CRRC did not specify any time frame for supplying the trains. But an earlier report suggested that Kolkata Metro is ready to begin inducting them by next year.

Indications are that this is a direct purchase with no suggestion about technology transfer or local manufacturing of the rakes in India with Chinese support as had been discussed earlier.

This is the first major railway equipment deal between China and India, which have been talking about it for over three years. It is particularly sweet for China because it reflects a march ahead of its rival Japan, which is also talking about supplying railway equipment to India. Besides, China has been worried after Mexico cancelled a bullet train deal a few months back.

It is also the first overseas order that CRRC, which was recently created after a merger of two Chinese railway giants. The new company, which trades on the Shanghai and Hong Kong bourses, has become the world's biggest rail conglomerate in terms of market value and sales.

Earlier reports quoted Radhey Shyam, general manage of Metro Railway, Kolkata, saying that 14 new rakes will be imported from China. Besides, two indigenously built rakes from Integral Coach Factory, Perambur, will be inducted in phase wise from 2016 onwards.

At present, there are 27 rakes, 13 of them air-conditioned. Induction of 16 more rakes in phase wise with built-in double brakes system would enable Metro Railway to cope up with growing demands for quality services, he said.