ICF to make 1,500 coaches a year

The Indian Railways proposed to increase production capacity of Integral Coach Factory in Chennai from 1,250 to 1,500 coaches a year, Railway Minister Lalu Prasad announced on Friday.

Presenting the Rail Budget for 2006-07 in the Lok Sabha, he said augmenting production capacity of Rail Coach Factory at Kapurthala was also under way. With this, the annual coach production capacity would go up by 26 per cent to 2,900, he said, adding that the metre gauge workshop at Bhavnagar would be converted to broad gauge to make it capable of overhauling 50 broad gauge coaches every year.

This year, he said maintenance facilities for freight stock at 34 places would be updated.  Similarly, the maintenance facilities for coaches at 19 places would be upgraded.

The Railway Budget 2006-07

The capacity of Rail Wheel Factory at Chhapra would be doubled to one lakh wheels per year, the minister said. The capacity to rehabilitate wagons at the Samastipur workshop would be doubled to 50 wagons, he said.

He also proposed to set up a wagon overhauling workshop at Sonpur in Eastern Railway with the capacity to overhaul 180 wagons a month.

Prasad said the Railways is considering a suggestion to make RCF at Kapurthala a wholly owned PSU in a bid to give more autonomy and also meet growing demands of metro systems that are expected to come up in various cities in the next few years.

A decision would be taken after discussions with factory staff and all other stakeholders, he said.