The Rail Coach Factory at

Kapurthala Kapurthala () is a city in Punjab state of India. It is the administrative headquarters of Kapurthala District. It was the capital of the Kapurthala State, a princely state in British India. The aesthetic mix of the city with its prominent b ...

is a coach manufacturing unit of the

Indian Railways Indian Railways is a state-owned enterprise that is organised as a departmental undertaking of the Ministry of Railways (India), Ministry of Railways of the Government of India and operates India's national railway system. , it manages the fou ...

in the

Indian state India is a federal union comprising 28 states and 8 union territories, for a total of 36 subnational entities. The states and union territories are further subdivided into 800 districts and smaller administrative divisions by the respe ...

Punjab Punjab (; ; also romanised as Panjāb or Panj-Āb) is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia. It is located in the northwestern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising areas of modern-day eastern Pakistan and no ...

. 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. The unit is located on the Jalandhar-Firozpur railway line, and currently, has the job of manufacturing new LHB and

MEMU In Indian Railways, a MEMU is an electric multiple unit (EMU) train that serves short and medium-distance routes in India, as compared to normal EMU trains that connect urban and suburban areas. The acronym stands for Mainline Electric Multiple ...

coaches.

History

The foundation stone for Rail Coach Factory was laid by then

Prime Minister of India The prime minister of India (ISO 15919, ISO: ) is the head of government of the Republic of India. Executive authority is vested in the prime minister and his chosen Union Council of Ministers, Council of Ministers, despite the president of ...

Rajiv Gandhi Rajiv Gandhi (20 August 1944 – 21 May 1991) was an Indian statesman and pilot who served as the prime minister of India from 1984 to 1989. He took office after the Assassination of Indira Gandhi, assassination of his mother, then–prime ...

on 17 August 1985 with an initial cost of . The objective of this project was to enhance production capacity for the Railways and generate employment for the youth of

. 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 1988. 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. Some of these are: * 'Tejas' high-speed coach (produced only by RCF Kapurthala) * Non-AC general coach (BG/MG) * Non-AC

luggage Baggage, or luggage, consists of bags, cases, and containers which hold a traveler's personal articles while the traveler is in transport, transit. A modern tourist, traveler can be expected to have packages containing clothing, toiletries, sma ...

-cum-

brake van Brake van and guard's van are terms used mainly in the UK, Ireland, Australia and India for a Rolling stock, railway vehicle equipped with a hand brake which can be applied by the Conductor (transportation), guard. The equivalent North Americ ...

(BG/MG) *

Refrigerated Refrigeration is any of various types of cooling of a space, substance, or system to lower and/or maintain its temperature below the ambient one (while the removed heat is ejected to a place of higher temperature).IIR International Dictionary of ...

parcel van (BG) * Accident relief train (BG)

Production

NewDeli Mumbai Rajdhani AC 2 tier new livery

During FY 2021-22, Rail Coach Factory produced 1862 coaches, which was its highest ever. Out of these, 1840 were

stainless steel Stainless steel, also known as inox, corrosion-resistant steel (CRES), or rustless steel, is an iron-based alloy that contains chromium, making it resistant to rust and corrosion. Stainless steel's resistance to corrosion comes from its chromi ...

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. 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. The factory, in association with DRDE, has also developed a highly cost-effective indigenous technology for the treatment of biowaste in coaches. During FY 2015-16, the factory manufactured 120 LHB coaches to be exported to

Bangladesh Bangladesh, officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, eighth-most populous country in the world and among the List of countries and dependencies by ...

at an estimated cost of , with the first consignment of 40 sets dispatched in March 2016. Before this (in 2006), the factory had already exported

metre gauge Metre-gauge railways ( US: meter-gauge railways) are narrow-gauge railways with track gauge of or 1 metre. Metre gauge is used in around of tracks around the world. It was used by several European colonial powers including France, Britain and ...

coaches to

Myanmar Myanmar, officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar; and also referred to as Burma (the official English name until 1989), is a country in northwest Southeast Asia. It is the largest country by area in Mainland Southeast Asia and has ...

and

Senegal Senegal, officially the Republic of Senegal, is the westernmost country in West Africa, situated on the Atlantic Ocean coastline. It borders Mauritania to Mauritania–Senegal border, the north, Mali to Mali–Senegal border, the east, Guinea t ...

References

External links

* {{Railways in Northern India Coach and wagon manufacturers of India Kapurthala Economy of Punjab, India 1986 establishments in Punjab, India

History

Production

See also

References

External links