Railway ministry to start work on wagon factories in 4 states

Will set up wagon factories in Odisha and Kerala and new coach factories in Kutch of Gujarat and Kolar in Karnataka in FY 13

The ministry of railways will commence work on setting up new rail wagon factories in Odisha, Kerala, Gujarat and Karnataka during the financial year.

"The Railway Vision 2020 estimates a need for over 5,000 diesel and 4,000 electric locomotives over the next decade and this requires huge investments and the participation of private and public sectors. In order to meet the requirements of the coming years, we have decided to set up new coach and wagon factories at several places," K H Muniyappa, minister of state for railways said.

He said the ministry will partner with the respective state governments to set up wagon factories in Odisha and Kerala and new coach factories in Kutch of Gujarat and Kolar in Karnataka in the current fiscal.

The second phase of the Rae Bareli coach factory will be commissioned in 2012-13, he said.

The Indian Railways will be providing bio-toilets in as many as 2,500 passenger coaches this year.

"As a goodwill gesture, the ministry of environment and forests has come forward to bear half the cost in this endeavour of the Railways to retrofit all passenger coaches on the railway system in the next five years. We will also install solar energy lamps in over 1,000 manned level crossings across the country this year," Muniyappa said.

Installation of Integrated Security System at all 202 identified stations will be completed in 2012-13 and escorting of trains by Railway Protection Force is being extended to another 3,500 trains.

The Indian Railways will also wipe out the backlog of SC/ST/OBC categories by recruiting over 100,000 employees in 2012-13, he said.

Indian Railways is aiming to improve the Operating Ratio (OR) to around 75% by 2017 with year-on-year revenue growth of 8-10%.

"The need of the hour, therefore, is to get aggressive on market-focused public private partnership models by engaging rail users in the planning process for tailoring total logistic solutions. The existing schemes for wagon leasing, sidings, private freight terminals and container train operations, rail connectivity projects and others will be made more attractive from rail users' perspective in the light of limitations of funding support from the government and constraints in regard to internal generation and market borrowing," Muniyappa added.