Indian Railways established goals to manufacture additional coaches to provide train passengers with the comfort and ease of travel in order to manage the passenger influx. Officials blame the supply chain interruption brought on by the Ukraine crisis for Railways’ flagship production units’ failure to reach the manufacturing objectives for coaches, wheels, locomotives, and other rolling stock for the first four months of current fiscal. The manufacturing of these crucial components was far below the proportional objective for the first four months of current fiscal year, according to a recent performance evaluation of the Railway production units.
VK Tripathi, Chairman and CEO of the Railway Board, presided over the review meeting with the general managers of the plants and brought up the production deficiency as of July 25. For instance, out of a target of 730 coaches, only 53 coaches for EMU/MEMU trains were produced by the Rail Coach Factory in Kapurthala (28), the Integral Coach Factory in Chennai (14), and the Modern Coach Factory in Raebareli (11).
Trains called Mainline Electric Multiple Unit (MEMU) and Electric Multiple Unit (EMU) are used on short- and medium-distance lines as well as those that link urban and suburban regions. The manufacture of MEMU rakes—a formation of linked coaches without a locomotive—has been “abysmally low,” which is a severe worry that has to be addressed right now, according to the papers.
The discussion also brought up issues with the lack of switch cabinets, 60 KVA transformers, and the MEMU/EMU electric propulsion system. To guarantee there is no “shortfall in output,” the GMs were encouraged to “fix these concerns quickly.” According to the Railways, the shortage in the construction of MEMU and EMU coaches is mostly attributable to the propulsion suppliers’ shortage of “electrics” (electrical components), which was in turn brought on by a global shortage of semiconductors.
“The suppliers were unable to fulfil large demand for electrics placed by the railways. Additionally, the sector was unable to keep up with the growing demand for electrics from the railways. This should become better in the remaining months of this fiscal year, and output will pick up in those months “It read.
Similar to local train coaches, LHB passenger coach production for long-distance trains fell short of the corresponding objectives over the same time period. The ICF produced 20.4 percent less coaches, the RCF behind by 10.2 percent, and the MCF approximately 56 percent. The shortage in LHB coach manufacture, according to the Railways, was mostly brought on by the breakdown in the supply of forged wheels, which were primarily supplied from Ukraine, which has been at war with Russia since February.
“In Ukraine, a ship carrying wheel discs became trapped. Now, the issue has been fixed. The following months will be used to make up the whole deficiency “said the Railways. The records revealed that at the July meeting, it was addressed how the lack of locomotive wheels, traction motors, and propulsion systems was making it difficult to reach production goals.
The records stated: “It was discovered that fresh orders are continually being placed to the same manufacturers with unusually high delivery times, despite not reaching supply agreements.” According to the documents, Bela Rail Wheel Plant is 64.4 percent off aim while the Railway Wheel Factory is 21.96 percent off target for wheelset output.
Similar to this, the document indicated that up to July, locomotive output fell around 28% short of the goals. It claimed that 40 locomotive breakdowns had been discovered in the 100 days leading up to June and urged severe measures in such situations.
