ICF to roll out nearly 3000 coaches this fiscal, becomes one of the largest railcar builders in the world

Published - March 06, 2019 05:58 pm IST - New Delhi

A view of train coach manufacturing unit at Integral Coach Factory (ICF) in Chennai on May 07, 2014.

A view of train coach manufacturing unit at Integral Coach Factory (ICF) in Chennai on May 07, 2014.

The Integral Coach Factory (ICF) of the Indian Railways manufactured 301 coaches in February, taking the total for this fiscal to 2,919. This puts it among the largest railcar builders in the world, senior railway officials claimed on Wednesday.

Top Chinese manufacturers, sources say, produce around 2,600 coaches a year.

The total production at ICF, Chennai, which churned out India’s fastest train — the Vande Bharat Express , stood at 2,919 (April-February) coaches against 2,085 in the corresponding period last year, a 40% increase in production. The factory had produced 1,976 coaches during the same period in 2017.

“The rate at which ICF is producing the coaches, it will certainly end up at over 3,200 this (financial) year. This decidedly makes it the largest railcar builder in the world and bigger than the remaining five of India put together,” said a senior official.

ICF has been given orders for manufacturing 44 more Vande Bharat Express trainsets by the railways, of which the first rake is under production. The balance 43 trainsets are planned to be rolled out of ICF in phases during the next three production years.

The Rae Bareli-based Modern Coach Factory too has ramped up production and has produced 143 coaches in February and a cumulative total of 1,283 coaches this year against 586 coaches in the same period last year, an increase of 118%, the official said.

The factory is well on its way to achieve a production level of 1,422 this year, double that of last year’s 711, the official said.

0 / 0
Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.