Integral Coach Factory rolled out 2,829 coaches, including 51 Vande Bharat trains, in FY24

CHENNAI: The city-based Integral Coach Factory (ICF) that manufactures railway coaches, Vande Bharat trains, and others, rolled out 2,829 railway coaches in FY24, up from 2,702 coaches produced in FY23.

This year’s outturn of ICF marks the highest number of DPRS (Distributed Power Rolling Stock) coaches viz 1,091. Earlier, the highest production of DPRS coaches was 996 in the production year 2018-19.

The DPRS-type coaches include Vande Bharat, Electric Multiple Unit (EMU), Mainline Electric Multiple Unit (MEMU) and others. It is pertinent to mention here that the man hours needed for the production of DPRS coaches is comparatively much higher than that required for the production of normal Linke Hofmann Busch (LHB) coaches.

The remaining 1,738 are LHB coaches.

As per the ICF, the other highlights of 2023-24 production are:

* The highest number of 51 Vande Bharat rakes produced by ICF. Of these 45 rakes are 8 car rakes and 6 rakes are 16 car rakes. During the previous year, 12 rakes of Vande Bharat trains were manufactured by the ICF.

* Two rakes of 22 coaches each for Amrit Bharat Express, which provides better facilities for long-distance passengers in unreserved coaches, such as folding snack tables, mobile holders, cushioned luggage rakes, charging points, and others.

* The highest number of 19 Self-propelled Inspection Cars for safety inspections in the zonal railways.

* The first Oscillograph Monitoring Car for the Research Design and Standards Organisation (RDSO), Lucknow, that will help Indian Railways validate the quality of journey for the passengers in the new coaches.