Integral Coach Factory: a global success story from Chennai

The unit now rolls out over 4,000 coaches annually, catering to both domestic and international demand

The Integral Coach Factory (ICF) in Chennai, one of independent India’s earliest indigenous production units inaugurated by then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru in October 1955, is on a roll. From manufacturing all-steel, all-welded shells with a capacity of 350 train coaches per year, the production unit, spread over 511 acres, which employs about 10,000 persons, now rolls out over 4,000 coaches annually, catering not just to domestic demand but also to international railway operators.

Arguably the largest coach making facility in the world, the ICF’s Furnishing Division was commissioned in October 1962.

Despite restrictions during the COVID-19 pandemic, the ICF manufactured 3,100 coaches in 2021-22. This included 31 rakes of the Mainline Electric Multiple Unit (248 coaches), 15 Vistadome tourist coaches, 2,639 Linke Hofmann Busch (LHB) coaches, 4 air-conditioned new generation rakes for the Kolkata Metro Rail and 50 Diesel Electric Tower Car. In 2019-20, the factory had touched an all-time high of 4,166 coaches and emerged as the largest railway passenger coach manufacturer in the world.

As of June 8, 2022, ICF has made 69,236 coaches, according to officials.

The indigenously developed ‘Train 18’, India’s first semi-high-speed train with an operating speed of 160 kmph, which was flagged off as ‘Vande Bharat Express’ between Delhi and Varanasi in 2018, has been a game changer for the ICF and the Indian Railways as a whole.

Considered the most successful product of the ‘Make in India’ initiative, a few dozen Vande Bharat Express rakes are in production at the ICF and other coach-making factories of the railways.

Its operational success and ride comfort has kindled interest outside India as well. According to K.N. Babu, a senior ICF official, the Rail India Technical and Economic Service Limited (RITES), which deals with export orders, was in talks with Argentina and Chile regarding orders for Vande Bharat rakes.