CHAPTER 1 INTEGRAL COACH FACTORY

Integral Coach Factory, Chennai, is a premier Production Unit of Indian Railways manufacturing railway passenger coaches. ICF is the first of its kind to be established after Independence for the manufacture of light weight, all steel and all welded, Integral railway passenger coaches. The factory was set up in 1955 with Swiss collaboration. PRODUCTION ICFs initial plan was to produce 350 Broad Gauge Third Class shells (unfurnished body of Coaches) only, which were to be furnished by the Zonal Railways workshops. Later, in view of the severe limitation of capacity of the Railway workshops and also to take advantage of mass production, a separate Furnishing Division was added on 2nd October, 1962. The capacity was progressively expanded from the initial 350 shells to 750 fully furnished coaches per annum by 1973-74 with additional inputs. This was enhanced progressively from 850 coaches during 1986-87 to 1000 coaches in 1990-91. The modernization project is under last stage of execution to augment capacity to 1250 coaches and will be over by 2010-11. Capacity is further being enhanced to 1500 coaches per annum through infrastructure additions and modernization of machines. DESIGN FEATURES The design concept of the coach stipulates that the roof, side wall, end wall and the under frame are joined together by welding, to form a fully integral coach shell. The end-wall construction has been made specially strong to make it anti-telescopic to ensure maximum safety to passengers. Further, crash worthy features are provided with CBC design to minimize impact on passengers during accidents/derailments.

From the basic design handed down by the collaborators, ICF has diversified having established its expertise and skill in this field, to design and manufacture more than 350 different types of coaches for Indian Railways and export market. Every time a new type of coach is launched, emphasis is laid on improving passenger comfort, passenger safety and higher speeds. ICF follows standard inspection procedures to ensure quality from raw material stage to the finished coach. ICF is divided into two factories. The first is the shell division in which the outer part of a coach as well as the bogies are manufactured. Bogie refers to the wheels on which the coach stands. The second is the furnishing division in which all the inner accessories are manufactured and placed. This includes fans, bulbs, seats, air conditioning unit, bars and all other accessories. The whole coach is also painted here. SHELL DIVISION The coach manufacturing starts from 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 Endwall assemblies. A Shell is made of a set of 2 Sidewalls, 2 Endwalls, 1 Roof and 1 Underframe fitted on two Bogies.

ACTIVITIES OF SHELL DIVISION Sheet metal shop produces all sheet metal items required for the manufacture of Underframe, Sidewall, Endwall and Roof. Main Assembly shop assembles the Underframe, Sidewall, Endwall and Roof to form a tube like SHELL. 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 welded to get bogie frames. Bogie frames, Bolsters, Springs and Wheels are assembled together and Bogies are tested in Bogie Testing machine before they are sent for wheeling. Final Assembly for fitment of Doors, Partition Frames and Wheeling of Bogies onto the Shells. The Shells fitted on the Bogies are dispatched to Furnishing Division for painting and furnishing work. FURNISHING DIVISION Aesthetic look, comfort and safety are very much essential for a pleasant journey. Furnishing Division takes care of the above by furnishing the interior of the coaches. ACTIVITIES OF FURNISHING DIVISTION Furnishing of coaches is done in stages, viz. Grit Blasting, Painting in Automatic Paint Booths, Drying in Ovens, Lettering,

 Flooring, Wiring, Paneling on Side Walls, Window fixing, Partition Paneling, Plumbing, Floor Molding, 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 dispatch.

METERIAL USED IN FURNISHING OF COACHES Compreg Plywood, NFTC, PVC sheets, RecronPU 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.

DESIGN & DEVELOPMENT DIVISION The design cell has a Design & Development wing. A CAD Centre is installed which assists in evolution and preparation of new drawings faster. Design office has designed more than 400 types of coaches to three different gauges 1676mm, 1067mm and 1000mm. It has produced over 3,00,000 drawings for coach layout and coach components. Design office takes care of the changes in the availability of the new materials, standardization, obsolescence, feedback reports from the user Railways and recommendations by various standing committees and study groups on the Indian Railways. With the changing requirements of the Railways, the design office is challenged to drastically cut down the design cycle time. The design office can proudly take the credit of development of the following new designs in the past three years. PRODUCTION WITH INNOVATION 1. ICF has designed the new AC DC EMUs with state of the art IGBT base 3 phase propulsion system being used for the first time in EMU stock of Indian Railways. Designs of the coaches including development of new items such as Air Handling Units for this project also have been undertaken by the Department. 2. ICF has developed emergency feed terminal arrangement for AC coaches and equipped it in 18 coaches for trial in user Railways. The system will ensure extension of power supply from adjacent AC coach, so that comfort of the passengers is maintained in the event of failure of coach battery in AC coaches. 3. ICF has developed Specification and introduced GPS based Passenger Information and Display system in AC EMU rake for Southern Railway. This is the first time that such a system is introduced in EMU stock in Indian Railways.

4. In order to improve the reliability and maintainability of ventilation fans in non AC coaches, 2.5 kVA inverters has been developed and coaches have been provided with AC fans and 2.5 kVA inverters. 5. In order to ensure better ventilation, ICF has developed 110 V ac 450 mm sweep fixed type RC fans for the use in EMU doorways in place of 400 mm sweep fans. 6. ICF has developed specification and provided GPS based Passenger Information and Display system in Garib Rath coaches. 7. Specification for LED based Disaster Management emergency light was developed and provided in all types of coaches manufactured in ICF since 2007. 8. As a passenger amenity, 100 VA inverters for lap top/mobile charging points to ICF Spec.No. ICF/Elec/922 was introduced in Second Class SL coaches since 2007. 9. New designs of Kolkata Metro coaches have been developed. These coaches have state of the art features like Passenger Information and Public Address System, air-conditioning with roof mounted ac units and with other advanced features such as inverters for power supply arrangements instead of MA set of existing design of coaches and electrically operated door control unit and state of the air brake system with TBU etc. PRODUCT RANGE ICF has been meeting the needs of the Indian Railways for varied types of coaches, however sophisticated the type may be. Some of the important types are: 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 nonelectrified routes and Mainline Electric Multiple Units for long distance inter-city commutership.

 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.