Integral Coach Factory pins hope on Make in India' to get Metro order
Chennai: Lauded as one of the world’s largest rail coach manufacturers, the Integral Coach Factory, Perambur is yet to receive an order from Chennai Metro Rail Limited (CMRL), though both the entities are operating in the same metropolis.
The manufacturing unit of Indian Railways is, however, pinning its hope on ‘Make in India’ initiative to bag the prestigious order. “We are talking with CMRL. And we hope that ‘Make in India’ would help to get the order. We are also ready to manufacture and give a metro coach to prove our mettle,” S. Mani, General Manager, ICF, said.
Perambur looks around a coach at the workshop on Wednesday. (Photo:N.Vajiravelu)
ICF has been manufacturing metro rail coaches for Kolkata Metro Rail. Explaining the obstacles in securing CMRL order, Mr Mani said Kolkata Metro rail runs on broad gauge, whereas Chennai Metro rail runs on standard gauge. “We have not yet tried our hand in making standard gauge coaches. But we have the capacity to make such coaches. We can start developing the technology on our own,” he added. According to railway data, standard gauge is narrower than broad gauge with the width of 1,435mm. Broad gauge has a width of 1,676mm.
Another ICF official said the cost of each Chennai metro coach is around Rs 8-10 crore. “Integral Coach Factory can make the coaches at around Rs 5-6 crore,” he said. At present, CMRL operates coaches manufactured by France-based Alstom Engineers.
Apart from Chennai Metro, the manufacturing unit is also looking forward to orders from other cities that have been mulling metro rail operations. “The future is good for our industry as metro services will be coming up in many cities. We have to leverage the opportunity,” Mr Mani said.
First rake of 160 kmph Train-18 to roll out before I-Day
India’s first self-propellant, high speed and inter-city electrical multiple unit (EMU) train is all set to roll out before Independence Day this year. The Perambur-based Integral Coach Factory (ICF) has expedited the chiselling of the train.
Tentatively named Train-18, the new long-distance EMU would clock 160 kmph. “We are planning to manufacture two rakes of Train-18 with the
combined number of 32 coaches. The train will have state of the art under-slung traction equipment to give more space to passengers,” Dilip Kumar, Deputy Chief Mechanical Engineer, ICF told media persons.
Workers at ICF workshop making rail coaches. (Photo:N.Vajiravelu)
Having missed the earlier deadline of April 2018, the first rake could be rolled out either by the last week of July or in the first week of August. “The rake will be ready before August 15. But trial runs will be done for at least two months before handing over the rake to the zonal railway,” the official said.
Although Southern Railway does not have tracks that could accommodate trains running at 160 kmph, the train is expected to ultimately replace the Chennai-Bengaluru Shatabdi Express. “The tracks in the route are suitable for 120 kmph trains. As the Train-18 is self-propelled, the acceleration is high that can save journey time anyway,” the official said. If the first train runs between Chennai-Bengaluru, it would be easy to maintain the train, he said.
ICF has initiated preliminary steps to manufacture Train-20 in 2020 with a full aluminium body. Apart from Train-18 in the current fiscal, ICF will also manufacture 160 kmph ‘Tejas’ coaches. “ICF will make 15 coaches for Nilgiri Mountain Rail and disabled-friendly LSLRD coaches this year,” the official said.
While speaking to reporters, S. Mani, General Manager, said ICF would manufacture 4,000 coaches by 2020-2021. ICF is the only manufacturing unit in the country that manufactures nine types of coaches like EMU, DEMU, Kolkata Metro, LHB, defence, vistadome and others.
