India: The inauguration ceremony was held at the Marathwada Rail Coach Factory (MRCF) in Latur, which was built by RVNL between 2018 and 2020 to meet orders from the national operator Indian Railways.
Here, Kinet Railway Solutions, a joint venture of India’s RVNL and Russia’s major rolling stock producer, will build 80 Vande Bharat trains of 24 cars each, or a total of 1,920 cars. The parties agreed that the two prototypes would be ready by the end of 2025.
In a workshop of the Marathwada Rail Coach Factory. Source: RNVL
The production process will employ over 10,000 people at MRCF’s facilities covering 1.42 sq. km with 8.6 km of factory tracks. Production will involve 11 areas and workshops, including those for the manufacture of car bodies, bogies, painting and other works. The contract does not foresee any production operations in Russia or the export of Russian components.
This week also saw the presentation of the prototype 16-car Vande Bharat sleeper EMU from another Indian manufacturer, BEML.
