Autokast Ltd., which bagged a tender for supplying bogies to North Western Railway, will open a new chapter in the industrial development of the State.
Finance Minister T.M. Thomas Isaac on Thursday said that Autokast, a ferrous foundry manufacturing unit in the public sector at S.N. Puram, near Cherthala, was poised to make profit for the first time.
“Autokast, once listed for privatisation by the UDF government, has won a tender for supplying bogies to North Western Railway. For the first time, the company is poised to make profits. The Left agenda stands for the protection of the public sector,” Dr. Isaac said.
Established in 1984
The unit was established in 1984. It employs 370 permanent and 180 temporary staff. The order for manufacturing bogies will give a new lease of life to the struggling Autokast, which is finding it difficult to give salary and allowances to its employees.
Earlier this year, the Lucknow-based Research Design and Standards Organisation (RDSO) of the Union Ministry of Railways has accorded Class ‘A’ Foundry status to Autokast. Following this, the company participated in a bidding process and bagged the tender for constructing Casnub bogies for goods trains.
Already, the prototype of the Casnub bogies had been manufactured in Autokast and subjected to quality tests of the RDSO. In the initial years, Autokast plans to manufacture at least 5% of the bogies needed and will step up the production in the coming years.
The present LDF government has injected money into the company, which helped it to modernise the unit.
