MCF to manufacture fresh fleet of Vande Bharat coaches

LUCKNOW : Rae Bareli’s Modern Coach Factory (MCF) will now ensure manufacture of a fresh fleet of Vande Bharat Express coaches.

“We have already placed the order with the MCF that is expected to start the work this year,” said Vinod Kumar Yadav, chairman railway board.

Yadav said the order was for 30 coaches, which may be increased in future. “The decision would facilitate the Railways’ plans of introducing more Vande Bharat Express trains on other prime routes,” he added.

Railway officials said MCF had been shortlisted following its high production. In January 2019, MCF manufactured more than 150 Linke Hofmann Bush (LHB) coaches, the highest number ever achieved. Similarly, last year in December, MCF had manufactured 144 coaches.

As per the past record, in 20152016, MCF had manufactured 285 coaches. In 2016-2017, it increased the production to 576 coaches. Similarly, in 2017-2018, the production of coaches touched 711.

On the inaugural day of Vande Bharat express, Railway minister Piyush Goyal too had shared the Railways’ future plans of introducing Vande Bharat Express trains on other routes. “We are already manufacturing around 50 Vande Bharat Express trains and by next year, we will ensure that the total number reaches 100,” Goyal had told media persons onboard Vande Bharat Express on Friday.

He also said that the Railways had already finalised some routes, including Patna to Kolkata and Kolkata to Bhubaneswar, to run such semi-high speed trains.