The Indian Railways’ requirement for carrying freight is 30,000 wagons, but the four existing manufacturing units across the country make 23,000 wagons leaving a gap of about 7,000. Hence, the Kazipet unit with a capacity to make 2,400 wagons will be able to bridge the gap considerably, informed South Central Railway General Manager Arun Kumar Jain on Thursday.
The Railways proposed to increase the freight-carrying capacity from 1,650 million tonnes to 3,000 million tonnes, doubling the capacity necessitating the requirement of more number of wagons, he pointed out at a press conference at the upcoming site.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be virtually laying the foundation stone from a nearby public meeting venue for the ₹521 crore unit which is expected to be ready within two years for production, on Saturday. Providing direct employment for about 1,200 workers, during the first year the production capacity by the first ever such unit for Telangana will be 1,200 wagons and rolling stock of more than 40 varieties.
Hitherto, the Railways has been dependent on its manufacturing units located at Amritsar, Tiruchirappali (Tamil Nadu), Jamalpur and Samastipur (Bihar) and Braithwaite & Co (Kolkatha) besides from the private sector industry. “But the requirement for freight wagons is much more,” he said.
The Kazipet unit spread over 160 acres was originally conceived as a periodic overhauling unit for 200 wagons a year and following persistent public demand, the Centre had acceded to have a wagon manufacturing unit with the latest production equipment with automation and robotic painting unit, said Mr. Jain, flanked by Divisional Railway Manager (Secunderabad) A.K. Gupta and Rail Vikas Nigam Ltd (RVNL) chief project manager Munna Kumar.
The GM said the location is ideally suited for taking the newly made wagons towards Chennai, Mumbai, Kolkata and Bengaluru as Kazipet has well connected railway lines. “It really is a proud moment for Telangana as it will help the socio-economic growth of the region with several ancillary industries likely to come up, providing employment opportunities for the local people,” said Mr. Jain.
Ground work has already begun by a Hyderabad-based firm and the tender will be suitably revised to incorporate new provisions. To another question, he said the Railway Board has cleared the Yadadri railway link project and tenders will be called within three months. The tenders were cancelled earlier after the State government did not release funds after having agreeing to share two-thirds of the cost.
