Rae Bareli, the parliamentary constituency of UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi, may soon have the Rail coach factory. The foundation of the factory was laid by Sonia Gandhi on February 13, 2007. After 14 months of the foundation laying ceremony the Railway board has floated global tenders inviting Request for Qualification (RFQ) in the joint venture for the new coach factory, to be established under PPP. As per the RFQ inviting the private companies, the Rail Coach Factory at Rae Bareli will be in joint venture for manufacturing and supplying of Passenger coaches to Indian Railway. The sale of RFQ will begin from May 6 till June 6. Work on the factory was held up as the previous government led by Mulayam Singh Yadav delayed land acquisition for the factory. Moreover, assembly poll in the state delayed the land acquisition. The land acquisition began after the Mayawati-led-government came to power. There were some procedural disputes in the acquistion, which was sorted out later. The new coach building plant at Rae Bareli will have an installed capacity to manufacture 1,000 coaches per year with latest manufacturing systems at an optimum costs. It would produce coaches with pleasing interiors, longer life span and higher comfort level. This will be first rail coach factory in Uttar Pradesh and third in India. The project would cost around Rs 2,200 crore with public-private participation (PPP). Around 500 hectares has been acquired for the project and about 3,000 local people will get direct or indirect employment. The rail coach manufacturing unit will consist of a workshop spread over 138 hectares, a colony spread over 339 hectares, along with other facilities for staff welfare.
