New Delhi, Jun 1 (PTI) Railways' premier coach factory, the Rail Coach Factory, Kapurthala, increased the production of LHB AC coaches from 471 in 2020-21 to 1,114 in 2022-23 and MEMU coaches from three to 213 during the same period, officials said on Thursday.

Officials said due to a major demand from zonal railways, production of MEMU (Mainline Electric Multiple Unit) coaches was ramped up in 2022-23 with the RCF manufacturing 22 coaches in 2021-22 and increasing it to 213 the following year.

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The production of LHB (Linke Hofmann Busch) AC coaches, which takes more time to build, was increased from 841 in 2021-22 to 1,114 in FY 22-23.

However, the production of LHB non-AC coaches suffered a setback with the factory manufacturing 1,500 coaches in 2020-21, 1,862 in 2021-22 and 1,651 in 2022-23.

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Overall, the rate of production has decreased in 2022-23 according to data provided by the Railways. From a total of 1,500 coaches in 2021-22, it increased to 1,862 but decreased to 1,651 in 2022-23.

"The reason for outturn in 2022-23 being less than 2021-22 (which was the highest ever record) is because outturn was adversely affected by the Ukraine War due to which prices of raw materials shot up in April-June 2022 leading to a major shortfall in the supply of trade items. There was a serious shortage of wheels in May-September 2022," an official said.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)