Palakkad: The Union Minister for Railways, Dinesh Trivedi on Tuesday laid the foundation stone for the much-awaited Kanjikode Railway coach factory. Rs.555 crores  is being invested for the coach factory, which will manufacture high quality coaches for the Indian Railways. The factory will be equipped with the most modern technologies for coach manufacturing.

The factory is a joint venture by the Central and State Governments with the cooperation of public and private investments. The factory will produce low weight aluminum coaches. 400 coaches will be manufactured in the factory in the first phase. Later, the capacity will be increased to 600 coaches. Earlier a 12,000 crore project was planned for the factory; however, it was later reduced to a 550 crore project. At one point, the project was at stake when land acquisition lagged for a long time.