Rail Coach Factory Kapurthala Fails To Deliver Any Vande Bharat Trains Against Target of 32

The Rail Coach Factory (RCF), Kapurthala, was supposed to deliver 32 Vande Bharat trains in 2022-23 but documents have revealed it did not deliver even a single one. This could affect the larger plan of running 75 Vande Bharat trains by August 2024.

The RCF in Kapurthala is the railway’s premier production unit and was tasked with delivering 32 Vande Bharat trains in 2022-23. Now, according to a new report, the factory has failed to deliver even a single train and has blamed the suppliers for not providing electrical components for the train sets. It also cited the spike in prices of raw materials which led to short fall in supply of parts like seats-berth, 60 KVA transformer, switch board cabinet, and shell components/ sub-assemblies.

As per the document assessed by PTI, the RCF said, “There was serious shortage of wheel supply from May to September 2022 leading to loss of production. Production of 87 coaches was lost on this account. The delay in supply of electrics by BHEL resulted in production loss of MEMU rakes. VB Trainset Coaches delayed as RCF did not get electrics from M/s Medha.”

The factory also fell short in other kinds of production and by the end of FY 2022-23, it had only manufactured 1,478 coaches against a target of 1,885. It also fell short of its target of 256 3HP MEMU trains and 1,520 LHB coaches, delivering 153 trains and 1,325 coaches.

The Railway Board has given the RCF a target of 64 Vande Bharat Express trains for this year. According to a senior ministry official, the RCF has not yet completed approvals for the design sent by French multinational rolling stock manufacturer, Alstom, for the Vande Bharat trains. Only 4 out of the 92 designs have been approved.

The Railways wants to have 75 Vande Bharat trains running by August 2024 and it has employed every factory at its disposal to achieve the target. These include Modern Coach Factory, Rae Bareilly, Latur Rail Coach Factory, and BHEL.

Vineet Washington