Cabinet nod to Kerala rail coach factory

The country will have a fourth rail coach manufacturing facility, the first to be built on a public-private partnership (PPP) model, in a little over three years from now. To be located in Palakkad, Kerala, it would use Japanese technology for the first time in India to roll out lighter coaches, consuming less fuel.

The Union Cabinet on Thursday approved setting up the unit, to manufacture 400 coaches yearly, at an estimated cost of Rs 550 crore (excluding the cost of land). The work will commence during 2012-13 and be completed within 36 months. It will be a joint venture, with the railways contributing 26 per cent of the equity .This will be the first rail coach manufacturing unit on a PPP basis. The railways would buy 239 acres from the Kerala government to set up the unit.

The project would use a Japanese technology deployed in high speed rail. This would mean less fuel consumed and more speed for trains. In the next five years, fuel consumption is expected to increase by seven per cent yearly, as passenger traffic is expected to increase at a compounded annual growth rate of seven to eight per cent, a railways official told Business Standard.

There is already a rail coach factory at Kapurthala in Punjab and and Rae Bareli in UP. These make both conventional and modern LHB coaches. There is also an older Integrated Coach Factory at Chennai. All these are entirely owned by the railways. Due to increase in passenger traffic, the railways face a shortage of 1,000-1,500 coaches.

Unless manufacturing capacity is raised, this demand-supply gap for coaches is expected to widen, the official said. Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy had last week met Railway Minister Dinesh Trivedi, seeking speedy approval for the project.

Trivedi had assured that the foundation stone would be laid this month.