Chennai: In a major feat for the Integral Coach Factory (ICF), the 60,000th coach – a self propelled inspection car – was rolled out here at its premise on 21 May in the presence of Member (Rolling Stock), Railway Board Rajesh Agrawal. Speaking to media persons, Rajesh, said, “It is a matter of pride that ICF has rolled out 3262 coaches last year making it the largest coach manufacturer in the world.” He then appreciated the efforts by ICF in turning out coaches for prestigious Vande Bharat (Train 18) Express.
Rajesh later inspected coaches to be exported to Sri Lanka Railways. He said, “For the current year, ICF will take up the design, development and production of Train 19, a sleeper version of Train 18 in the lines of Rajadhani Express.” Rajesh added, “ICF will manufacture more number of Vande Bharat Express train sets and 40 such train sets will be rolled out in the immediate future.”
On export of Train 18 trainsets, he said, “South East Asian and South American nations have showed interest for import of such coaches.” He further stated, “About Rs 2,500 crore infrastructure improvement projects are being planned for Indian Railways’ coach production units of which Rs 500 crore will be spent for ICF.” He then informed that to improve the safety of Train 18 in the event of cattle crossing, it has been planned to fit the driver cabin crash guard with aluminium design in place of fibre-reinforced plastic (FRP).
When asked about air conditioned suburban trains, Rajesh said, “12 rakes are planned to be rolled out of ICF. As far as Southern Railway is concerned, the matter will be discussed at Board level and supply of rakes will be finalized.” He concluded the interaction saying, “Another rail coach factory at Lattur is now getting ready and likely to be commissioned this year.”