India’s largest rail private coach factory was inaugurated in Telangana’s Kondakal village on June 22. Built by a joint venture of Medha Servo Drives Pvt Ltd and Stadler Rail, the facility was inaugurated by the state’s Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao. The firm designs and makes electrical and electronic Railway products.
The chief minister said Telangana expressed happiness over Medha Servo Drives getting the Monorails orders from Mumbai. He also said the state was proud of the fact that home-grown Medha Servo Drives will build rail coaches for Telangana. The first phase of the factory has been set up in about 100 acres with an investment of over Rs 805 crore, the firm’s Managing Director Kashyap Reddy said. It has a production capacity of 500 coaches and 50 locomotives annually. More than 550 people have reportedly been employed because of the plant so far and 1,000 more will be added soon.
Telangana’s Minister of Municipal Administration and Urban Development K. T. Rama Rao wrote on his Twitter account that with an investment of nearly ₹1,000 crore this unit will eventually employ 4,000 people.
Medha Servo Drives and Malaysia-based SMH Rail had bagged a contract from the MMRDA for the design, manufacture, supply, testing and commissioning of 10 new Monorail rakes.
Medha Servo Drives is the largest propulsion equipment supplier to the Indian Railways. It is also reportedly the only Indian firm which has in-house research and development (R&D) facilities.
Earlier this year, the Rail Coach Factory in Kapurthala blamed its suppliers failing to deliver crucial components resulting in a delay of the production of Vande Bharat trains, The Indian Express reported citing an internal document. It was also reported that the factory not just failed to meet its Vande Bharat trains production targets but it also took a hit in the overall making of all kinds of coaches.