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Rail Coach Factory, Kapurthala
The Rail Coach Factory at Kapurthala is a coach manufacturing unit of the Indian Railways in the Indian state of Punjab. It was set up in the year 1985 with an investment of ₹423 crore (US$342 million) in order to enhance production capacity for India's railways and generate employment for the youth of the state.[5][1] The unit is located on the Jalandhar-Firozpur railway line, and currently, has the job of manufacturing new LHB and MEMU coaches.[4] HistoryThe foundation stone for Rail Coach Factory was laid by then Prime Minister of India Rajiv Gandhi on 17 August 1985 with an initial cost of ₹423 crore (US$49 million). The objective of this project was to enhance production capacity for the Railways and generate employment for the youth of Punjab. The unit commenced production just 2 years later on 19 September 1987, and rolled out its first coach a few months later on 31 March 1987.[1][6] As of March 2022, it has manufactured more than 41,000 coaches of over 60 different types, which make up over 50% of the total production of coaches on Indian Railways.[4] Some of these are:
Production During FY 2021-22, Rail Coach Factory produced 1862 coaches, which was its highest ever. Out of these, 1840 were stainless steel LHB coaches, while the remaining 22 were 3-phase MEMU coaches. During this year, the unit also crossed the 40,000 mark in cumulative coach production.[7] Up until March 2022, RCF has produced 41,014 coaches of more than 60 design variants, both AC and non-AC. This comprises more than 50% of the total stock of coaches running on Indian Railways.[4] The factory, in association with DRDE, has also developed a highly cost-effective indigenous technology for the treatment of biowaste in coaches.[8] During FY 2015-16, the factory manufactured 120 LHB coaches to be exported to Bangladesh at an estimated cost of ₹367 crore (US$42 million), with the first consignment of 40 sets dispatched in March 2016.[9][10] Before this (in 2006), the factory had already exported metre gauge coaches to Myanmar and Senegal.[11][4][1] See also
31°19′42″N 75°21′04″E / 31.32827°N 75.35108°E References
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