Indian Railway and Kerala sign MoU for J V firm

New Delhi, June 28 : The Indian Railways and the Government of Kerala today signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to form a Joint Venture Company for fabrication of bogie frames for passenger coaches.

The venture would include fabricating side and end walls for wagons of the railways by utilizing the land and other assets of the Steel Fabrication Unit (SFU) and Autokast.

Speaking on the occasion, Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav said this joint venture would benefit the people of Kerala and the Indian Railways in the future.

V.K. Pabby, Advisor (Mechanical Engineering Development), Ministry of Railways and Amitabh Kant, Principal Secretary and Special Commissioner (Industries), Government of Kerala, signed the MoU.

Considering the increase in the number of passengers, the MoU has been signed to cater to the requirement of additional passenger services.

To augment the limited capacity of manufacturing fabricated bogies for passenger coaches, the Railway Minister in his Budget Speech 2007-08 had proposed the setting up of a Joint Venture company with Steel Industrials Kerala Limited- a public sector undertaking of the Kerala Government having two units in Alleppey, which were engaged in similar manufacturing activity.

ANI