Indian Railways’ (IR) subsidiary Modern Coach Factory (MCF) has signed a Rs 1.28bn ($17.2mn) contract with South Korean firm Dawonsys for delivery of aluminum-bodied coaches for the trains.
The first batch of these coaches is expected to come in by February next year that IR plans to use for the Kolkata city Metro in India and eventually it expects more of these coaches to come in that would be used in other trains.
The project has been delayed as both countries were challenged with COVID-19 related crisis. However, Dawonsys will share the design with MCF by the end of this month. The approved coaches will be manufactured in South Korea and brought to India in a knocked-down condition. That said, Dawonsys will slowly transfer the manufacturing technology to MCF. Designs for self-propelled coaches with a high speed of 225 kmph will also be transferred to MCF.
Under the contract, the South Korean firm will supply standard gauges and broad locomotive-hauled coaches as well. The main reason behind using aluminum coaches is that it is lightweight and corrosion-resistant with an extended coach life warranty of 40 years. Less weight also means higher speed and easy maintenance.
($1 = Rs74.17)