Over 6,000 coaches are planned for production in 2019-20 and will include coaches for five Train–18 rakes, according to sources in Indian Railways.
This number includes targets set for all coach production units – Integral Coach Factory (ICF), Perambur, Modern Coach Factory (MCF), Rae Bareli, Rail Coach Factory (RCF), Kapurthala and the DEMU Coach Factory at Haldia.
A total of 80 ‘trainset’ coaches are planned for this fiscal. The ‘trainset’ terminology is being used for Train-18, ICF’s in-house product. Going by the current configuration as a guide, 80 coaches correspond to five rakes of 16 coaches each.
The revised production programme issued in January 2019 planned for 160 Train-18 coaches. However, the target seems to have been halved to 80 coaches. One of the five rakes planned for 2019-20 is expected to be ready for dispatch soon.
ICF has the highest tally of coaches to be produced, at 3,200 units for the year. This includes the 80 Train-18 coaches, and over 1,000 EMU coaches for local trains in Mumbai and other cities, classified under Self-Propelled Coache. ICF will also produce 1,974 LHB coaches for long distance trains this year.
MCF is expected to produce 1,454 coaches in total this year. With production from the newest large-scale facility ramping up over the past few years, targets for RCF have been dialled down slightly. The Kapurthala based RCF plans to produce fewer coaches this year than MCF, at 1,374 units.
The following is the break-up of targets by coach types and production units for 2019-20.
| Type of Coaches | Integral Coach Factory, Perambur | Rail Coach Factory, Kapurthala | Modern Coach Factory, Rae Bareli | Coach Factory Haldia |
| LHB | 1,974 | 842 | 1,422 | 0 |
| Train 18 | 80 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Self Propelled (EMU, DEMU, etc) | 1,063 | 524 | 32 | 30 |
| Others | 83 | 8 | 0 | 0 |
| Total | 3,200 | 1,374 | 1,454 | 30 |
The production programme for 2020-2021 forsees a further increase in production to over 6500 coaches.
Very insightful news and updates, thank you.