Budge Budge Coach Bogie Frame Factory to supply 600 LHB Bogie Frames to Rail Coach Factory, Kapurthala

Budge Budge Coach Bogie Frame Factory to supply 600 LHB Bogie Frames to Rail Coach Factory, Kapurthala

Budge Budge (BGB): The bogie manufacturing factory at Budge Budge, the foundation stone for which was laid by Mamata on January 11, 2011, commenced production in March, 2015 and will supply 600 LHB bogie frames to Rail Coach Factory (RCF), Kapurthala every year as planned.

Production has also started at the DEMU factory at Haldia and the two at Dankuni supplying spares to Diesel Locomotive Works (DLW), Varanasi and Chittaranjan Locomotive Works (CLW).

“The unit at Budge Budge was originally called the AC Container & Bogie Manufacturing Factory and the investment was to be Rs.59.3 Crore. Now it is known as the Coach Bogie Frame Factory and the project cost has gone up to Rs 149 crore. The factory is manufacturing FIAT bogie frames that offer superior riding quality, higher safety and have lower maintenance requirements. These bogie frames will facilitate Indian Railways’ plan to switch over from the manufacture of conventional steel coaches to LHB stainless steel ones,” a senior official said.

Indian Railways used coaches primarily manufactured by Integral Coach Factory, Perambur, till some were imported from Linke Hofmann Busch (LHB) in Germany. These stainless steel coaches with more riding comfort were initially used in the Rajdhani Expresses. Later, the LHB coaches started being manufactured at RCF under licence from Alstom LHB GmbH (Alstom took over the company in 1998). The Indian Railways then took a decision to switch over from conventional coaches to LHB ones for all important mail/express trains.

The unit of CLW at Dankuni has also started production and is expected to roll out the first high horsepower electric locomotive by the end of this year.