Title - State support sought for Rail Coach Factory at Kolar

Kolar MP and Union Minister for Micro, Small and Medium Scale Enterprises K H Muniyappa on Monday urged Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and sought the state government’s support for starting a rail coach factory in Kolar as mentioned in the previous railway budget.

He appealed to the Chief Minister to provide 1,200 acre of land and 50 per cent of the investment for the Rail Coach Factory.

Minister said that the Project was actually announced a second time; and a 1,000 acres of land was also identified in Srinivaspur taluk. Once the Coach Factory is set up and operational, 5,000 jobs are likely to be created.

With land having been identified, people in the district expect the project to be put on the fast track. Though the railway coach factory proposal was made in last year’s budget itself, the district administration has not received any communique from the government in this regard.

However, land was identified in Srinivaspur taluk following oral instructions from Union Minister of State for Railways, K H Muniyappa, who represents Kolar constituency in the Lok Sabha. Of the 1,000 acres identified, 60 per cent is government land, while the rest is private property.

“After visiting various places in the district, we zeroed in on land in Srinivaspur taluk. We have informed the chief secretary and the principal secretary to the Revenue department in this regard. The district administration is ready to hand over land whenever required,” Deputy Commissioner Manojkumar Meena told Deccan Herald.

The rail coach factory is expected to generate 5,000 jobs. With Muniyappa stating that locals will get priority in jobs and with land having been identified for the factory, there is hope among people in the district that the work on the project will be expedited. The factory will be set up as a joint venture with the State government.

Brief history

The history of railway coach factories in the country dates back to 1885 when the East Indian Railway set up its carriage and wagon division. However, it was wound up in 1900.

In 1952, the country’s second rail coach factory was set up at Perambur in Chennai. The third one came up at Kapurthala in Punjab in 1986.

The fourth factory is coming up in Rae Bareli of Uttar Pradesh.

Poor Rail Connectivity

While the move to establish a coach factory in the district has been welcomed by the people, the railway facilities in the district are rather poor. There is no direct rail link from Kolar, the district centre, to the State capital, Bangalore. There is only one train connecting Kolar to the Bangalore Cantonment station. A railbus connects Bangarpet and Kolar. Other than these, there is no railway facility in the district. There is a demand for an express train between Kolar and Bangalore.