With Lok Sabha elections less than a year away, Railway Minister C P Joshi is pushing hard for expeditious work on the Rs 850 crore modern coach factory in his constituency Bhilwara in Rajasthan.
Joshi, who was given additional charge of railways last month, today held a meeting with senior officials concerned to review the progress of the project which was announced in the 2013-14 Rail Budget.
He told them to expedite the work on setting up the modern Mainline Electric Multiple Unit (MEMU) coach factory which is to manufacture about 400 coaches per year, sources said.
While railways have signed an MoU with state-owned BHEL for setting up MEMU coach factory to cater to the growing demand for more local and suburban trains, another MoU will be signed with the state government for acquiring land.
It was pointed out in the meeting that transfer of land to BHEL and ensuring basic amenities like water for the factory are responsibilities of the state government.
Joshi asked the officials to sort out the land transfer issue at the earliest so that the project can take off this current.
MEMU trains equipped with higher acceleration capacity are expected to move faster on electrified tracks and would benefit daily commuters. MEMU trains are required for faster connectivity with suburban areas. Each MEMU train with nine coaches can carry 1,800 passengers.
BHEL is already into manufacturing of diesel and electric locomotives at its plant in Jhansi and has an annual capacity to make around 50 engines.
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