Minister of Railways, Communications and Electronic and Information Technology, Ashwini Vaishnaw in a written reply to a question in Rajya Sabha today said that development, acquisition of new coach technology on Indian Railways (IR) is a continuous process and decision for the same is taken as per requirement and evaluating the rolling stock technology available.
The Railway Minister said that subsequent to the acquisition of LHB technology, the following actions in this regard have been taken by the Indian Railways:
Modern Coach Factory (MCF) / Rae Bareli has signed a ToT (Transfer of Technology) contract with M/s Dawonsys, South Korea for design, development, manufacturing and testing of aluminium body passenger coaches.
Indian Railways has developed technology indigenously and manufactured Vande-Bharat trains (Train- 18).
Indian Railways has already awarded the contract for design, development, manufacture, supply, integration, testing and commissioning of IGBT-based 3-Phase propulsion, control and other equipment (including Bogie assemblies) for manufacture of 44 Vande Bharat trains with improved suspension technology and energy efficiency. Further, procurement of propulsion of 58 additional Vande Bharat trains is under process.
Indian Railways also plans to acquire / manufacture 400 new generation energy efficient Vande Bharat trains with better energy efficiency and passenger riding experience. The specification for the same is under finalization.
Meanwhile, The Railways will need to target revenue of ₹3.5 lakh crore and an investment of ₹3-lakh crore every year to meet the country's aspirations, the government told the Rajya Sabha on Thursday.
During a discussion on the working of the ministry, Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw attacked opposition members and past governments, alleging they only talked about vision and preparing concept notes, but did not take any action to implement them.
The minister said that to meet the aspirations of the country, its citizens and the future generation over the next 10 years, the Railways will have to target to ferry 1,000 crore passengers every year from about 800 crore currently, and increasing the cargo load from 140 crore tonne to 300 crore tonne.
"If we won't do it then we will never be able to cross-subsidize passenger fare," he said.
