First coach from Rae Bareli by May-end

Alok Johri,the factory’s Chief Administrative Officer,said all coach factories begin with finishing and furnishing of the readymade shells. “Our target was October 2011 but after speeding up the work,we will achieve this much before”.

In the second phase,which is expected to be completed in December 2012,the factory will start manufacturing of shells. Production of complete coaches,with trolleys and wheels,will begin in the third phase which will be completed in December 2013,said Johri.

The factory would manufacture state-of-art LHB design (Linke Holfmann Bush) coaches that are used in Rajdhani and Shatabdi trains. Initially,it would make five coaches a month. When the factory is ready,it would be making 1,000 coaches every year. The total investment is an estimated Rs 2,000 crore.

Initially,the factory would make a mix of AC 3-tier,AC 2-tier,Chair Car and Executive Chair Car coaches. The RCF at Kapurthala recently started manufacturing these coaches,along with an old-design coaches. RCF Rae Bareli would manufacture only the new-technology LHB coaches,the design for which has been imported from Germany.

The foundation of the project was laid by Congress president Sonia Gandhi and the then Union Railways Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav at Lalganj in 2007. Originally,it was expected to start production in 2009,but the state government refused to handover189 hectare land,which was identified for the project,days before Sonia Gandhi was to perform “Bhumi Pujan” at the site.

After a three-month-long confrontation with the Union Government,state government had ultimately leased out the land and Sonia Gandhi inaugurated the construction work on January 27,2009.

UP’s share

* Biweekly Allahabad-Mumbai AC Duranto

* New Shatabdi connecting Agra and Jaipur

* Daily Rajya Rani Express between Lucknow and Meerut

* The Janam Bhoomi Gaurav Express from Howrah to Varanasi

* Kavi Guru Express between Guwahati and Jaipur to pass via Faizabad and Gorakhpur

* Express trains between Rae Bareli and Jaunpur,Gorakhpur and Yesvantpur,Lucknow and Bhopal,Varanasi and Singrauli,Gonda and Asansol,Asansol and Gorkhpur,Kolkata and Agra and Varanasi and Ahmedabad. While Varanasi-Singrauli and Rae Bareli-Jaunpur will be daily,others are weekly

* Agra,Rae Bareli and Varanasi stations to be upgraded in partnership with the Tourism Ministry

* Thermal power plant in Agra

* Amethi,Rae Bareli,Varanasi and Azamgarh to get multifunctional complexes,with budget hotels

* UP will have to wait for double-decker AC cars which were designed and tested by RDSO,Lucknow.