 Aerial view of the ICF in Perambur, Chennai. | |
| Company type | state-owned |
|---|---|
| Industry | Rail transport |
| Founded | 2 October 1955; 70 years ago (1955-10-02) |
| Headquarters | Chennai,Tamil Nadu, India |
Area served | Asia-Pacific Africa |
Key people | U. Subba Rao[1] (General Manager) |
| Products | |
Production output | 4,166 coaches (2019–20) 2,702 coaches (2022–23)[2] |
Number of employees | 9,300 (2024)[2] |
| Parent | Indian Railways |
| Website | icf |
Integral Coach Factory (ICF) is an Indianstate-owned manufacturer ofrolling stock, andelectrical multiple units. Established in 1955, it is located inPerambur inChennai and is the largest rail coach manufacturer in the world. It is owned and operated by theIndian Railways and is the oldest amongst the five rake production units of the Indian Railways. While the facility initially manufacturedICF coaches, it currently manufacturesLHB coaches andelectric multiple units including the semi-high speedVande Bharat train-sets.
AfterIndian Independence, theGovernment of India wanted to reduce the import of rail coaches to cater to the increasing traffic of theIndian Railways. In therailway budget for 1949–50, thenMinister of Transport and Railways,N. Gopalaswami Ayyangar announced the intention to establish a railway coach factory in India.[3]
In 1949, a technical agreement was concluded withSwiss Cars and Elevator Manufacturing Corporation, aZurich-based company for technical assistance and transfer of coach building technology.[4] A basicsteel shell was designed as aprototype by the Swiss company which would form the basis of coaches to be manufactured in the new facility.[3][5]
In 1951, the site for the factory was chosen atPerambur, a suburb ofMadras and the construction began.[4] A further extended agreement was signed in 1953 for the Swiss company to supply tools and machines to set up the factory.[3] The Integral Coach Factory is one of the earliest production units and was constructed at a cost of₹74.7 million (US$880,000).[6] The factory was inaugurated by thenPrime Minister of IndiaJawaharlal Nehru,[7] and rolled out its first coach on 2 October 1955.[8] The furnishing division was inaugurated on 2 October 1962.[8][2]
The ICF consists of two main divisions, shell division and furnishing division.[9] The shell division consists of 14 individual units and manufactures the skeleton of the rail coach, where various parts that form the shell are fabricated and integrated to form a single structure that is placed on wheel sets.[9] The furnishing division consists of eight individual units and is responsible for interior furnishing, exterior painting, electrical equipment and other testing.[9] The factory had an installed capacity of 350 units per annum in 1955 with the production increasing to 1458 by 2013–14, 2277 by 2016–17 and reaching the highest at 4166 coaches in 2019–20.[2][10][11]
In 2011, the air-conditioned train-sets manufactured by ICF forKolkata Metro allegedly broke down causing disruption of services as the rakes were sent to Kolkata without conducting dry runs because the ICF did not havethird-rail testing facilities.[12] As of early 2020s, the company manufactures over 4000 coaches each year and is the largest rail coach manufacturer in the world.[13][14] In June 2024, ICF rolled out its 75,000 coach, which was part of the 69th rake ofVande Bharat.[15]
ICF manufactures more than 170 varieties ofcoaches includingICF coaches,LHB coaches,Metro coaches,EMUs,DMUs andMEMUs. The coaches manufactured based on original Swiss design were termed as ICF coaches which were manufactured from 1955 to 2018.[16] The ICF coaches were replaced by newer LHB coaches designed byLinke-Hofmann-Busch ofGermany.[17] In the 1960s, ICF started developing EMUs for short-haul and local routes.[18][19]
In 2017, ICF started developing a semi-high speed train-set designed to be fully air-conditioned, equipped with modern facilities and capable of reaching speeds of over 160 km/h (99 mph).[20] In 2018, the firstprototype code-named "Train 18" was completed within 18 months after initiation and was built at a cost of₹970 million (equivalent to₹1.3 billion or US$15 million in 2023) with 80% indigenous components.[21] It was later re-named asVande Bharat Express, the first of which was flagged off by the Prime Minister of India on 15 February 2019.[22][23]
While the coach factory primarily manufacturesrolling stock for Indian Railways, it also exports railway coaches to other countries. The first export was an order of 47 bogies toThailand in 1967 and the factory has since exported 875 bogies and coaches to over 13 Afro-Asian countries includingAngola,Bangladesh,Mozambique,Myanmar,Nepal,Nigeria,Philippines,Sri Lanka,Taiwan,Tanzania,Uganda,Vietnam, andZambia.[2][24][25][26]
A training school, established in 1955 provides training to the personnel.[3] ARegional Railway Museum is situated in the factory premises which has a collection of nascent models of trains and models endemic to theIndian Railways. ICF maintains quarters of working staff and other associated facilities including hospitals and schools.[3] About 59.1 million units of electricity had been generated through the windmills installed by ICF inTirunelveli district in 2011 which met 80 per cent of the plant's electrical energy requirements.[27][28][29]
Since its inception in 1955, the ICF has been running on technology from Switzerland's Swiss Cars and Elevators Manufacturing and Germany's Linke-Hofmann-Busch (LHB)
Inaugurated by the late Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru in 1955, ICF, as it is popularly called, has been producing several coaches...
from manufacturing 350 units per year, now it rolls out over 4,000 coaches annually
Integral Coach Factory (ICF), Chennai, made history on Thursday by rolling out the 75,000th coach since its inception in 1955. The 75,000th coach was part of the 69th rake of Vande Bharat trainset.
Launched as Train 18 and rechristened as Vande Bharat, the trains that are designed to run at a maximum speed of 180 km per hour are indigenously manufactured at the ICF since 2018
13°05′54″N80°12′30″E / 13.09832°N 80.20844°E /13.09832; 80.20844
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