Hyderabad, Aug 13 (IANS): Telangana's Industries Minister K. T. Rama Rao on Thursday laid the foundation stone for Medha Rail Coach Factory at Kondakal near Hyderabad.
Coming up over 100 acres, it will be India's largest private rail coach factory and will be capable of manufacturing coaches, locomotives, metro trains and monorail.
Being set up by Medha Group with an investment of Rs 1,000 crore, the coach factory will have a production capacity of 500 coaches and 50 locomotives per year.
Rama Rao said the plant with employment potential of 2,200 would give a big push for the manufacturing sector.
He hoped that the first assembly unit of the plant would be ready in 15 months to cater to the future requirements of Telangana of not just metro and mono rails but also high-speed trains.
KTR, as the minister is popularly known, said Medha was making Telangana proud by not only emerging as India's largest private rail coach maker but also a global player.
He recalled that at the time of formation of Telangana state, the Centre had promised a rail coach factory in public sector at Kazipet but even after six years, no step was taken.
He said the Centre should fulfil the promise made in Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act by setting up the rail coach factory in the public sector and handhold the new state which was marching on the path of development with progressive policies.
Medha Group had signed the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Telangana State Industrial Infrastructure Corporation (TSIIC) in 2017 while the land was allotted last year.
Medha Servo Drives' Managing Director Khashyap Reddy said with proximity to Hyderabad and access to railway tracks, the company had an ideal location for the plant.
"Over the next 4-6 years, we will invest about Rs 1,000 crore to create state of the art infrastructure which will employ 1,000 plus people to deliver high quality trains from this factory," he said.
He said the large suppliers' base to be developed by the factory was expected to generate 1,200 indirect jobs.
"The factory will build the highest quality train and locomotives to make the country proud. It will develop all types of railway rolling stock including coaches, train sets, locomotives, metro trains and monorails," he said.
Reddy also revealed that the company was in talks with a reputed European train builder to be part of the project.
He said Medha, which made a modest beginning in 1984, had now grown into a group of 12 companies. It has two subsidiaries each in Europe and the US, one in South America and four joint ventures in India.
The group, which had a turnover of Rs 25 crore in 2005, saw tremendous growth over the last 15 years. It now has consolidated revenues of Rs 2,100 crore and 3,500 employees.
It is the largest propulsion equipment supplier to Indian Railways and also the largest traction motor manufacturer and largest supplier of signalling equipment to the national transporter.
He pointed out that most of the equipment including propulsion systems of the Vande Bharat express train launched last year between New Delhi and Varanasi had come from Medha.
Developed at par with European standards, this was the first Indian train which can run at a speed of 160 km per hour.
Reddy said with 600 engineers at its R&D centre at Cherlapally near Hyderabad, Medha had the capability to design the best world-class products for India and also bid for the private investment opportunities in Indian Railways.