Rail coach factory in Latur to start work with Rs 500-crore investment

The new rail coach factory in Latur, in the backward Marathwada region of Maharashtra, will roll out coaches in 2019-20. The tendering process for building the factory has been completed and work will start within a month, Rajesh Agarwal, member, Rolling Stock, Railway Board, said. Indian Railways is investing `500 crore in this facility. Around 450 acres of land has been set aside by the Maharashtra state government for the coach factory.

This will be the second factory making rail coaches after Modern Coach Factory (MCF) in Raebareli. This rail coach factory in Latur will be on the lines of the MCF. The MCF would be manufacturing 1,500 coaches this year and go up to 3,000 coaches in two years. From next year, the MCF would be manufacturing metro, EMU, MEMU, aluminum body coaches and high-speed rail here, Agarwal said. MCF was in talks with Metro Rail companies such as Maha Metro, which is implementing metro projects in Nagpur and Pune for supplying metro coaches. We can make coaches for metro rail and this would be a more sustainable option for the metro networks, Agarwal said. It has got letter of intent for two rakes from Maha Metro, he said.

It is also proposed to have an industrial rail park at Latur like the one in Raebareli. According to Agarwal, the private industrial rail coach park in UP has attracted investments of `2,500 crore from component and ancillary units. A team from railways was in Pune for a meet organised by the Mahratta Chambers of Commerce, Industries and Agriculture on Saturday.

Sambhaji Patil Nilangekar, guardian minister for Latur district said, currently more than 70% of the coaches required by Metro Rail networks are being imported and we should build an ecosystem where we can start making these metro coaches here, as we have the capability to do so. In Latur, the state government has identified around 900 acres of land and is reserving this for the proposed allied industry and ancillary units that would support the coach factory. Latur is located in the midpoint of Pune and Hyderabad and would have good connectivity with both cities, which was an advantage, he said.