Asia’s leading exhibition on metal forming and manufacturing technologies is all set to be organized once again by Indian Machine Tool Manufacturers’ Association (IMTMA) at Bangalore International Exhibition Centre (BIEC), in Bengaluru, from 23rd to 28th January 2020. The exhibition is a significant opportunity for the railway sector to explore latest industry equipments and technologies such as high speed laser cutting machine, sheet metal working, welding and joining, presses, metrology and CAD / CAM which are essential for coach building and other formed parts used in rail coach and engine productions.

Indian Railways is one of the oldest industries in India with a journey that began in 1853 between Bombay and Thane during the British era. Ever since railways has constantly been reinventing itself through innovations, research and development. In recent past the Government of India has accelerated reforms to modernize the railways which is changing the outlook of this lifeline of today’s long distance transport. It has been designing coaches for metro, procuring wagons, and manufacturing state-of-the-art train sets, subsystem components, etc. Substantial indigenisation, local sourcing, and quality initiatives have resulted in metro coach manufacturers making their presence in overseas market.

Government is replacing diesel locomotives with electric ones and manufacturing high-speed ‘engine-less’ train sets. ICF coaches are being substituted with LHB (Linke Hoffman Busch) coaches that are considered safer. Recently, Railways Minister, Piyush Goel told Rajya Sabha that the entire rail network in India will be electrified and India is the only country which is experimenting to convert diesel engines into electric. While these steps are noteworthy, the railways is looking for more modernization and make rail travel truly world-class. Achieving this is possible when railways has a strong machine tool industry to bank on and procure technologies for manufacturing of parts for engine, coach building, wheel building and other related sub systems and components.

Indian machine tool industry has been working parallely by developing technologies to address the needs of railways. Trade delegations from railways have been an integral part of IMTEX shows since decades. Growth of railways has led to an increase in demand for machine tools such as special-purpose wheel lathes, light-rail transit systems, heavy duty single and double column vertical turning lathes, large bridge type milling machines, horizontal lathes and special purpose machines.

IMTEX holds a unique position for manufacturing with its diverse portfolio of solutions for various user industry sectors including railways. The show will also have a number of new product launches and ‘live’ display of technologies from India as well as overseas. Visitors by having first-hand experience of machines and products can take informed decisions for choosing right technology and machines for their manufacturing needs. Focus will be on Factory of the Future: Industry 4.0 and Additive Manufacturing. These are evolutionary and emerging trends heralding digitalization across the entire spectrum of manufacturing and will enable the railways sector to upgrade their technology and infrastructure to realize its vision of modernisation.

Highlights of IMTEX FORMING 2020 & Tooltech 2020

• 500+ exhibitors
• Exhibitors from 22+ countries
• 500+ live demos
• Focus on additive manufacturing and Industry 4.0
• Over 33,000 square metres of exhibition space
• International Seminar on Forming Technology
• i2 Academia Pavilion (an event for academia and industry to interact and explore possibilities for tie-ups)
• Connect (an awareness programme on machine tool industry)
• Reverse International Buyer-Seller Meet (an interaction platform for machine tool manufacturers and international buyers)
• 40,000 + business visitor footfall expected