Thaindian News

Thiruvananthapuram, Sep 19 (IANS) The long-delayed Palakkad Coach factory, cleared by the rail ministry a few years ago, is finally going to materialise with the foundation stone to be laid Oct 22, Railway Minister Dinesh Trivedi said.

He was speaking to reporters after a four-hour meeting with the Kerala cabinet and top officials here Monday.

“This project has been pending for a very long time and now the state government has also cleared the land required for the project and, hence, the foundation stone will be laid Oct 22nd at Palakkad,” said Trivedi.

The coach factory is to come up on 426 acres near Palakkad and, with this, more than 100 ancillary units are also likely to come up in and around the project area.

“The railways is facing a financial crunch, and if we are to clear long-pending budget proposals of the last two decades, we require around Rs.1.60 lakh crore; hence, we have decided to clear projects if the state government also chips in,” said Trivedi.

Trivedi and Minister of State for Railways K.H. Muniyappa and a team of 40 top railway officials, including the railway board chairman, took part in the marathon discussion.

“We are now awaiting the project report for setting up a rail component factory at Shertallai,” Trivedi said. “This will manufacture various components for the railways. Various models are being looked into and the state also has to chip in. If it is a public-private partnership model, things would be very fast.”

The meeting also sanctioned two new trains.

“We are really happy that a good number of positive decisions were taken and we will do all we can to further speed up the process of development in the railway sector in the state,” said chief minister Oommen Chandy.