The Central Organisation For Modernisation of Workshops (COFMOW) was a

public sector undertaking Public Sector Undertakings (PSU) in India are State-owned enterprise, government-owned entities in which at least 51% of stake is under the ownership of the Government of India or State governments of India, state governments. These types of f ...

in India, created in 1979 to modernise the workshops of

Indian Railways Indian Railways is a state-owned enterprise that is organised as a departmental undertaking of the Ministry of Railways (India), Ministry of Railways of the Government of India and operates India's national railway system. , it manages the fou ...

. It was established through funding from the

World Bank The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans and Grant (money), grants to the governments of Least developed countries, low- and Developing country, middle-income countries for the purposes of economic development ...

and is located in

New Delhi New Delhi (; ) is the Capital city, capital of India and a part of the Delhi, National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the Government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, New Parliament ...

, the national capital.
It was dissolved by Indian Govt w.e.f Dec 01, 2022.

History

At the time of integration of the Indian Railway system in 1952, there were 41 repair workshops dealing with periodic overhaul of coaches, wagons and locomotives. Day-to-day repairs were handled in over 300 repair depots and sick lines. The last quarter century of planned development of Indian Railways has witnessed extensive changes in the mode of traction as well as development of new types of coaches and wagons. Diesel and

electric locomotives An electric locomotive is a locomotive powered by electricity from overhead lines, a third rail or on-board energy storage such as a Battery (electricity), battery or a supercapacitor. Locomotives with on-board fuelled prime mover (locomotive), ...

have gradually replaced

steam locomotives A steam locomotive is a locomotive that provides the force to move itself and other vehicles by means of the expansion of steam. It is fuelled by burning combustible material (usually coal, oil or, rarely, wood) to heat water in the locomot ...

. The number of passenger coaches in service has almost doubled. The wagon stock holding is roughly 2.5 times that in 1951. Financial limitations, however, did not permit development of maintenance facilities compatible with the growth of rolling stock. Only 5 new workshops have been set up since 1952. The increased demand for maintenance was largely catered by piece-meal expansion of the existing facilities. Expenditure on workshops in this period was less than 2.5% of the total plan outlay on the railways. Nevertheless, to meet the requirement of new rolling stock, three new production workshops were set up. The problems encountered in manufacture and maintenance of the rolling stock are largely due to obsolescence of machinery and plant, diverse product mix and layout deficiencies. The situation in respect of machinery and plant is a source of major concern. The proportion of overage machines in 1979 had increased to 77% from 47% in 1952. Due to paucity of available maintenance funds, an agreement was negotiated with the

International Development Association The International Development Association (IDA) () is a development finance institution which offers concessional loans and grant (money), grants to the world's poorest developing country, developing countries. The IDA is a member of the World ...

of the World Bank for providing a credit of $95m for the first phase of workshop modernisation programme, expected to be completed by March 1983. Second and third phases of another 7 years envisage an estimated expenditure of Rs.400 crores inclusive of IDA Credits. The unprecedented magnitude of this effort prompted the Indian Railways to set up a specialist organisation wholly devoted to the furtherance of this task. Thus, the Central Organisation for Modernisation of Workshops (COFMOW) came into existence in 1978 to implement the modernisation programme. Cofmow is now the designated organisation of

for selection, procurement and induction of modern workshop technologies and M&P.
P. Ananth, Principal Chief Mechanical Engineer at COFMOW, has been granted the administrative and financial powers of the Principal Chief Administrative Officer and redesignated as Chief Administrative Officer, COFMOW.

References

External links

Official website
* Railway companies of India Railway workshops in India Railway companies established in 1979 1979 establishments in Delhi Companies based in Delhi {{India-rail-transport-stub