INDUSTRIAL VISIT REPORT

INTEGRAL COACH
FACTORY -CHENNAI

YERRA PRADEEP
ME14B074
ABOUT INTEGRAL COACH FACTORY:

Integral Coach Factory (ICF) is the only manufacturer of rail coaches located
in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. It was established in 1952, is owned and
operated by the Indian Railways and started production on 2 October 1955.
The coach factory primarily manufactures cars for Indian Railways but also
exports railway coaches to other countries.

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.[1] ICF manufactures
more than 170 varieties of coach including first and second class coaches, pantry
and kitchen cars, luggage and brake vans, self-propelled
coaches, electric (EMU), diesel (DMU) and mainline electric multiple
units (MEMU), metro coaches and diesel electric tower cars, accident relief
medical vans (ARMV), inspection cars (RA), fuel test cars, track recording cars
and luxury coaches. The plant employs about 13,000 people and manufactures
about 1500 coaches per year. ICF churned out 1,503 coaches in 2010 and in
August 2011, ICF was sanctioned a project for manufacturing stainless steel
shells and high speed bogies and an increase in capacity from 1,500 to 1,700
coaches. In 2013-14, it built 25 LHB Coaches, 248 air-conditioned and 1185 non-
ac coaches. 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. A total of 50,000 coaches had been produced till
18 Aug 2015 by ICF since its inception.

A Regional Railway Museum is situated in the factory premises. It has a

collection of nascent models of trains and models endemic to the Indian
Railways. About 59.1 million units of electricity had been generated through the
windmills installed by ICF in Tirunelveli district in 2011 which met 80 percent of
the plant's electrical energy requirements.
The needs of the Indian Railways for various types of coaches, which may simple
or advanced ones are being met by the integral coach factory. Some of the
important ones are listed below:

1. SELF PROPELLED COACHES

Electric Multiple Units for suburban services in Metropolitan cities;
Diesel Rail Cars;
Metro Coaches for Kolkata Metro Railways;
Diesel Electric Multiple Units & Diesel Hydraulic Multiple Units for non-
electrified routes and Mainline Electric Multiple Units for long distance inter-city
commuter ship.
Accident Relief Trains / Medical Vans
OHE Inspection Cars
2. AIR-CONDITIONED & NON-AIRCONDITIONED PASSENGER COACHES
Air-conditioned Sleeper Coaches of first & second class;
Air-conditioned Chair Cars of first and second class;
Double Decker Coaches with seating capacity for 148 passengers as against the
conventional 90 passengers.

3. SPECIAL COACHES
Air-conditioned & Non-air-conditioned Pantry Cars
High Capacity Power Cars for Shatabdi & Rajdhani Express Trains
Air-conditioned Military Ward and Saloon Cars for Indian Army.
Air-conditioned Saloon Cars, Dining Cars, Bar & Restaurant Cars, luxury suites
for luxury tourist trains like Palace on Wheels (WR), Deccan Odyssey (CR), The
Golden Chariot (SWR), Royal Rajasthan on Wheels (NWR) and Maharajas
Express of IRCTC
Lifeline Express for operation of hospital on wheels
Jet Deflector Crane Cars, Inter Communication Coaches for DRDO
EXPORT
ICFs achievement on the export front has been enviable since its inception.
Against stiff international competition from more advanced countries like Japan,
etc., ICF secured several export orders, most of which are repeat orders. So far,
359 bogies, 11 stainless steel coach shells and 481 coaches including air-
conditioned coaches have been exported to 13 Afro-Asian countries. ICF has
bagged a number of awards for Export Excellence also.
DESIGN & DEVLOPMENT EFFORTS
Complementing the existing design capacities and facilities, a fully computerised
Design & Development Cell has been set up with sophisticated state-of-the-art
computer designing facilities and testing equipment both for coach components
and raw materials. D&D Centre uses 3-D modelling on SolidWorks platform for
generating 3-D drawings and IDEAS software for Finite Element Analysis.Strain
gauge testing and squeeze test are done on prototypes before commencement
of series production.
PRODUCTION WITH INNOVATION
ICF has carved a niche in the Indian Railway system by constantly improving the
quality of travel through its passenger coach design which has undergone a sea-
change from the days of bye-gone era of mere transport of passengers. There
has been a steady growth both in the quality and quantity of its production. Over
the years ICF has endeavoured to meet passengers expectations through
innovations
Cushioned seats in General Second Class and SLR coaches
Provision of Controlled Discharge Toilet Systems
Anti-injury features in the passenger areas of A/C 2-tier and Sleeper
coaches
Enhanced carrying capacity in A/C 2-tier, First A/C and Garib Rath Chair
Car
Provision of forced ventilation, PIS/PAS in AC/DC EMUs for WR and CR
UIC vestibules in mainline coaches
Disabled friendly features in SLRD/SRD coaches
Modular toilets in passenger coaches
Stainless steel panelling, handholds in EMUs
Provision of laptop and cell phone charging points in passenger coaches
Use of stainless steel in Pantry Cars including interiors and the equipment
Manufacturing:
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.
SHELL DIVISION:
The coach manufacturing starts first in the Shell Division, where the body shell
and bogie assemblies are done. The body shell assembly is of all welded
integrated design, and it consists of Underframe, Sidewall, roof and end-wall
assemblies. A Shell is made of a set of 2 Sidewalls, 2 end-walls, 1 Roof and 1
Underframe fitted on two Bogies.
Activities of Shell Division
a) Sheet metal shop produces all sheet metal items required for the
manufacture of Underframe, Sidewall, End wall and Roof.
b) Main Assembly shop assembles the Underframe, Sidewall, End wall and
Roof to form a tube like SHELL.
c) Bogie Frame manufacturing shop manufactures Bogie Frames by Laser
Cutting, Press Brakes and Submerged Arc Welding machines. The
components are then assembled in jigs and robotically or manually
welded to get bogie frames.
d) Bogie frames, Bolsters, springs and wheels are assembled together and
Bogies are tested in Bogie Testing machine before they are sent for
wheeling.
e) Final Assembly for fitment of Doors, Partition Frames and Wheeling of
Bogies onto the Shells.
The Shells fitted on the Bogies are despatched to Furnishing Division for
painting and furnishing work.
 A VIEW OF THE ICF

FURNISHING DIVISION:
Aesthetic look, comfort and safety are very much essential for pleasant journey.
Furnishing Division takes care of the above by furnishing the interior of the
coaches.

Each coach undergoes ten different stages. They are

1) Preparatory 6) Panelling- II
2) Flooring 7) Moulding
3) Wiring 8) Fitting
4) PVC plasting 9) Seats and Back Rests
5) Panelling I 10) Pitline
The Various processes undergoing in these stages in various shops are:
Grit Blasting, Painting in Automatic Paint Booths, Drying in Ovens,
Lettering
Flooring, Wiring, Panelling on Side Walls, Window fixing, Partition
Panelling, Plumbing, Floor Moulding, Lights & Fans fixing, Seats, Berths
and Racks fixing, Air-conditioning where required, Brake fitment and
Buffer height adjustment
The Furnishing Division also does assembly of Self Propelled Coaches
where Engine/Electrics for DEMUs and Transformers/Motors for EMUs
are fitted, commissioned and tested before despatch.
Technological Upgradations in Furnishing:
Use of UIC Rubber Vestibules, Roof Mounted A/C Package Units in
coaches
 Fitment of Controlled Discharge Toilet System
Use of polycarbonate seats in MRVC EMUs
Use of FRP in Aerodynamic Nosecones of DEMUs
Stainless steel panelling, handholds and grab rails in MRVC EMUs
Compreg Plywood, NFTC, PVC sheets, Recron/PU cushion, feather touch
Vinyl cloth, stainless steel lavatory inlays are used to achieve good interior
design, best passenger amenities and long life of the coach under tough
running conditions.

SPRING MANUFACTURING
ICF manufactures its own indigenous springs using hot winding process. Thicker
wire or bar stock can be coiled into springs if the metal is heated to make it
flexible. Standard industrial coiling machines can handle steel bar up to 75 mm
in diameter. The steel is coiled around a mandrel while red hot. Then it is
immediately removed from the coiling machine and plunged into oil to cool it
quickly and harden it. At this stage, the steel is too brittle to function as a spring,
and it must subsequently be tempered. Grinding, shot peening, setting and
coating are some finishing processes that are done to after the hardening. These
are then sent to the shell division for assembly.
Conclusion:
The ICF is one of the only two coach manufacturing units in India. It produces
coaches indigenously starting right from raw sheet metal to completely
furnished coaches in various shops. We observed numerous manufacturing
processes like punching, blanking, forming, forging, rolling, turning and CNC
machining. Though India lags behind technologically, ICF imports many of its
equipment from all over the world, making it efficient. It is very surprising that
even with all the imported automation equipment, it still employs thousands of
labourers, which I feel decreases the efficiency of the factory. It was very
interesting to witness how the coaches were moved from one shop to the other
on movable train tracks. Also the museum that we visited at the end of the
industrial visit was an eye opener, where we came to know some very famous
personalities who had visited the ICF. The visit taught me that the Indians are
also as capable as the Japanese or the Americans when it comes to
manufacturing. Though we are technologically lagging behind, we make up for
it with sheer manpower!