Integral Coach Factory rolls out 3,000 coaches in record 215 days

ICF achieved the production figure in just 215 working days against the 289 days it took to reach this figure last fiscal year – a productivity gain of 25.6 per cent - as it country’s top coach maker rose to the occasion to meet the growing demand for rail coaches. 

The number of working days to achieve the above figure has been reduced from 289 days in the last year to 215 days in the current year, a reduction of 25.6%. 

This is a significant achievement when it comes to optimum utilisation of manpower and infrastructure, as until the year 2014, ICF used to take around nine months’ time to complete production of 1,000 coaches.

Railway minister Piyush Goyal tweeted that the ICF displayed dedication and efficiency by producing its 3,000th coach in less than nine months, a reduction of 25.6 per cent in the time taken compared to the previous year.

Established in 1955, the ICF took one year to develop its first indigenously built shell.

It made the first air-conditioned coach in 1966 and commenced export of bogies to Thailand the next year.

Rakes for the Kolkata Metro, Palace of Wheels, Lifeline Express (Hospital on Wheels), Diesel Electric Multiple Unit for Jammu & Kashmir, self-propelled Accident Relief Train, Vistadome glass-top tourist train for Arakku Valley and Goa were among its other achievements over the years.

A majority of the 3,000 coaches made this year were the Linke Hofmann Busch (LHB) variant built on German technology.

In 2017, the ICF made four popular coaches for Indian Railways — Tejas, Anubhuti, Deenadayalu and Antyodaya. The year 2018 was the most celebrated year with the rolling out of Train18, built indigenously in a record 18 months at a cost of Rs98 crore.

Train 18, later flagged off by Prime Minister Narendra Modi as Vande Bharat Express, is considered as the most successful product of the ‘Make in India’ initiative.

“Last year, the ICF manufactured 3,250 coaches and we crossed the 3,000-mark on December 20, 2019. By the end of this fiscal, more than 4,000 coaches, including rakes for EMU, MEMU, Self-Propelled trains and export orders, will be rolled out. We have beat our own record set last year and have retained the top position in the world when it comes to manufacturing rail coaches,” a senior ICF official told The Hindu on Saturday.

Though Vande Bharat Express, India’s first semi-high speed train, was considered a game changer, the tenders floated to make more rakes were cancelled owing to a variety of issues, particularly allegations of procedural flaws involving senior officials.

Amid stiff resistance from political parties, trade unions and some senior officials to the proposal for procuring train sets by floating global tenders, the Ministry of Railways asked the ICF to make 45 rakes for Vande Bharat Express in two years.

Meanwhile, its sister concern Chittaranjan Locomotive Works (CLW) has turned out its 300th locomotive in the first 216 days of the 2019-20 financial year, ie, on the evening of 21 December 2019.

The number of working days needed for production of 300 loco has come down from 292 days in the year 2017-18 to 249 days in 2018-19 and further to 216 days in the current fiscal, 2019-20 - a 28 per cent increase in productivity since 2017-18.

Flagging off the 300th loco, WAG-9 HC (32692), general manager of CLW Praveen Kumar Mishra, expressed hope that with this trend in production, CLW will be able to even surpass the target of this FY 2019-20 and will be all set for creating a new record. 

CLW produced 402 locomotives in 2018-19 and thus became the world's largest producer of locomotives.