Integral Coach Factory

Started in 1952, the Integral Coach Factory (ICF)(Hindi: इंटीग्रल कोच फैक्टरी) is located in Chennai, India. Its primary products are rail coaches. Most of the coaches manufactured are supplied to the Indian Railways, but it has also manufactured coaches for railway companies in other countries, including Thailand, Burma, Taiwan, Zambia, Philippines, Tanzania, Uganda, Vietnam, Nigeria, Mozambique, Bangladesh, Angola and Sri Lanka. The coach factory provides primarily for the Indian Railways, a number of different coaches - first and second class coaches, pantry and kitchen cars, luggage and brake vans, self-propelled coaches, electric, diesel and mainline electric multiple units (EMU, DMU, MEMU), metro coaches and Diesel Electric Tower Cars (DETC), Accident Relief Medical Vans (ARMV), Inspection Cars (RA), Fuel Test Cars, Track Recording Cars, the latest coaches are for the Deccan Odyssey (a luxury train of the Indian Railways), and coaches for MRVC. However the air-conditioned train-sets manufactured by ICF for Kolkata Metro have repeatedly broken down causing disruption of services causing immense problem to commuters. According to newspaper reports the air-conditioned rakes have been sent to Kolkata without conducting dry runs because the Integral Coach Factory does not have third rail testing facilities.[1][2][3][4][4][5][6][7][8][9][10]

History

The business started in 2 October 1955, the first items produced being seven third class shells. Today the coach factory produces more than 170 varieties of coach. It employs about 13,000 people and produces around six coaches a day. A total of 43,551 coaches had been produced till July 2011 by ICF since its inception. ICF had churned out 1,503 coaches in 2010, which was an all time record production.[11] the shell section is high sound is produced

Structure of the organization

The Integral Coach Factory consists of two main divisions - Shell division and Furnishing division. The Shell division manufactures the skeleton of the rail coach, while the Furnishing division is concerned with the coach interiors and amenities. An ancillary unit to the Integral Coach Factory is being built in Haldia, West Bengal for furnishing diesel multiple units.[12] Regional Railway Museum is situated in the factory premise. It has a collection of nascent models of trains and models endemic to the Indian Railways.

Developments

A total of 59.1 million units of electricity had been generated through the windmills installed by ICF in Tirunelveli district till the end of December 2011 which met 80 per cent of its electrical energy requirements from green energy.[13][14][15]

In August 2011, ICF has been sanctioned a project for manufacturing stainless steel coaches for the first time in the country. The INR 2,500 million project is for manufacturing technologically upgraded coaches of stainless steel shells and high speed bogies and an increase in capacity from 1,500 to 1,700 coaches. The new bogie facilities and shell manufacturing facilities are likely to be completed by March and August 2013, respectively.[11]

Production

The plant manufactures about 1500 coaches per year. In year 2013-14 it manufactured 25 LHB Coaches, 248 Air-conditioned and 1185 non-Air-conditioned coaches.[16] It plans to increase its manufacturing capacity of LHB coaches. It has set a target to manufacture 300 LHB coaches in 2014-15 and reach a capacity of 1000 LHB coaches by 2016-17.[17]

See also

References

  1. ↑ (Jayanta) Sep 18, 2011, 03.51am IST (2011-09-18). "Snag disrupts Metro services develops snag, commuters stranded". The Times of India. Retrieved 2012-11-01.
  2. ↑ "Snag disrupts Metro services". The Times of India. TNN. 2011-08-09. Retrieved 2012-11-01.
  3. ↑ "Snag hits Metro on Panchami day". The Times of India. TNN. 2011-10-02. Retrieved 2012-11-01.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Sanjay Mandal (2011-10-31). "AC rakes throw Metro off track". Telegraphindia.com. Retrieved 2012-11-01.
  5. ↑ Jayanta Gupta (2011-06-25). "Metro AC rakes may break down during rains". The Times of India. Retrieved 2012-11-01.
  6. ↑ http://www.thestatesman.net/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=350330&catid=73
  7. ↑ Our Special Correspondent (2011-09-17). "Snag in AC Metro rake". Telegraphindia.com. Retrieved 2012-11-01.
  8. ↑ "2 days in a row, AC rake snags". Telegraphindia.com. 2011-09-18. Retrieved 2012-11-01.
  9. ↑ "After technical snags developed in an AC rake metro train services were disrupted this morning. Trains could not run between Girish Park and Dumdum. They ran only from Girish Park to New Garia.". The Times of India. 2011-09-20. Retrieved 2012-11-01.
  10. ↑ "AC rakes throw Metro - Yahoo! News India". In.news.yahoo.com. 2011-10-31. Retrieved 2012-11-01.
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 ICF to set up a stainless steel coaches manufacturing plant
  12. ↑ "Railways' Haldia factory phase I may be commissioned by Oct/Nov". The Hindu. Feb 2, 2012. Retrieved February 19, 2012.
  13. ↑ "Coach factory to use Rs 250 cr to upgrade bogies". Business Standard. Jan 27, 2012. Retrieved February 19, 2012.
  14. ↑ "Surplus from ICF windmills to power TNEB grid soon". The Times of India. Feb 23, 2010. Retrieved February 19, 2012.
  15. ↑ "Integral Coach Factory installs seven windmills". The Hindu (Chennai, India). Apr 10, 2009. Retrieved February 19, 2012.
  16. ↑ http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/business/india-business/ICF-produces-record-1622-coaches/articleshow/33089541.cms
  17. ↑ http://www.railjournal.com/index.php/asia/indian-government-approves-kolar-coach-factory.html?channel=529

External links

Coordinates: 13°05′54″N 80°12′30″E / 13.09832°N 80.20844°E