Indian Railways (IR) has decided to rope in its own production units – Integral Coach Factory (ICF), Chennai, Rail Coach Factory (RCF), Kapurthala and Modern Coach Factory (MCF), Raebareli to simultaneously produce a total of 238 air-conditioned rakes for Mumbai suburban railway network.
The decision follows IR’s strategy to procure these rakes in sync with commissioning of capacity augmentation projects under MUTP-3 and MUTP-3A programmes.
Addressing a press conference in Mumbai on Wednesday, Vilas S Wadekar, CMD, Mumbai Rail Vikas Corporation (MRVC) said “the revised approach is aimed at aligning induction of AC rakes with the commissioning of new corridors, additional lines and other capacity augmentation works bringing a major improvement in Mumbai’s suburban railway services at the earliest possible stage. The accelerated manufacturing strategy is therefore focused on ensuring that the benefits of AC suburban travel reach Mumbaikars substantially earlier”.
Approximately ₹22,000 crore is being invested in capacity augmentation, covering new corridors, additional railway lines, extension of platforms to accommodate 15-coach trains and other works such as like yard re-modelling, aimed at strengthening the suburban network.
Alongside this infrastructure augmentation, the Government has approved 238 additional AC suburban rakes for Mumbai, for which the procurement process had been initiated. However,assessment of the procurement timeline through technology partners indicated that series supply would take about three years to commence, with the first rake becoming available only by 2030 and the entire fleet by 2034.
With IR deciding to expedite the programme through simultaneous manufacturing of 238 rakes at ICF, MCF and RCF, the parallel manufacturing strategy is expected to roll out the first of the 238 AC rakes by 2027. The entire fleet is being targeted for receipt by 2030.
