Integrated coach factory for aluminium bodied train sets sought in Odisha

Bhubaneswar: Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Monday requested Union Railways Minister Piyush Goyal to consider setting up an integrated coach factory for aluminium bodied train sets in the state.

In a letter, the Chief Minister said the state government is extremely keen to set up the integrated coach factory in the state.

The central government has proposed to produce high-speed aluminium bodied ‘Train 20’ train sets to be rolled out by the Ministry of Railways by 2020.

“Odisha is the largest producer of aluminium and houses about 56% of the smelting capacity of the country. The state government is developing a dedicated Aluminium Park, where molten aluminium can be directly obtained from the smelter of NALCO for the manufacturing of the train sets,” said the Chief Minister.

“In view of this unique advantage in the state, the production costs for the coaches could come down substantially through use of committed feedstock from the mother plant in the immediate vicinity,” he added.

The Chief Minister said that the state has identified downstream and ancillary units in the metal sector as one of the five focus sectors.

The government is committed to providing unmatched facilitation support to manufacturing investments in the state, said Patnaik.