Catering to the growing demand for modern passenger coaches, the Cabinet today gave its approval for setting up a new rail coach manufacturing unit at Kolar in Karnataka to manufacture 500 Linke Holfman Bush (LHB) coaches a year.
The coach factory, expected to foster economic development of the state, will be set up with an estimated cost of Rs 1460.92 crore with active participation of state government.
The factory will be a 50-50 joint venture between the Railways and the state, which will bear half of the project cost and also provide land for it free of cost in a first-of-its-kind business participatory model.
The proposal for setting up coach factory at Kolar had been hanging fire for the past three years and finally got a push after Karnataka strongman Mallikarjun Kharge assumed charge of railways last year.
Currently, about 700 LHB coaches are being manufactured in a year and railways have plans to replace all conventional coaches with LHB because of its anti-fire retardant materials and modern design.
All premier trains like Rajdhani, Shatabdi and Duronto are equipped wirh LHB coaches.
The plant will come up at an area of 1118.38 acres land to be provided by the state government.
