Rail Coach Factory (RCF) Kapurthala, one of the production units of the Indian Railways, has exhorted Indian industry to make available cheaper and long-lasting coatings for the post-Covid-19 coaches that the unit can make.

Speaking at the Invest Punjab conference organised by PHDCCI, RCF Kapurthala General Manager Ravinder Gupta said that the cost of making each such post-Covid-19 coach is ₹ 2.5-3 lakh for each non-AC coach; and ₹ 5-6 lakh for AC-coach.

As of now, RCF Kapurthala has made two such coaches, and the production unit has spent a small fraction of the total money required, according to Gupta. While RCF Kapurthala is internally working to innovate in this area, it would also like the domestic industry to invest in research and development to make available such coatings that can be cheaper and long lasting.

RCF-Kapurthala has had to make such coaches as the passenger business of Railways has completely changed following the pandemic outbreak. And the production unit is designing such coaches in-order to add to the confidence of passengers to use trains. It can increase the production of such coaches if needed by the Railway Ministry.

The unit sources almost a third of its material from Punjab, would like to increase local sourcing to half.

This post-Covid-19 coach has design improvements like handsfree amenities such as water taps, soap dispensers, doors and flush valve, and copper-coated handrails and latches, plasma air purification and titanium di-oxide coating for Covid-19 free passenger journey.

The production unit is making six coaches a day now, which is more than the average number of coaches produced last year.

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