New Delhi, Aug. 6 -- State-run railway engineering and consultancy firm RITES Ltd is preparing to open a much larger export market for Indian Railways' surplus diesel locomotives by developing a standard-gauge version of the country's in-service locomotives. The move could pave the way for sales across Australia, Europe, the Americas and parts of Africa, said a senior official aware of the matter.

The initiative comes on the back of RITES's successful development of Cape gauge variants of Indian Railways' broad-gauge diesel locomotives for South Africa, demonstrating that locomotives nearing the end of their domestic utility can be refurbished and adapted for overseas markets instead of being retired.

RITES chairman and managing directo...