ICF’s 60,000th coach rolls out
Vishnu Sharmaa, INN/Chennai, @Svs037
It was a red letter day on May 21 for Chennai based Integral Coach Factory (ICF) as the 60,000th coach made by it was rolled out in the presence of member (rolling stock) Rajesh Agrawal. 
Senior employee K Venkateswaralu rolled the coach which is an inspection car. Speaking to the media persons Rajesh Agrawal said soon they would be launching Train 19 this year, this will be a sleeper version of Train 18 on the lines of Rajdhani Express trains.
Earlier product from ICF, Train 18 has gained immense popularity in less time, he said and reminded that it is running to its full capacity. Soon more Train 18s will be launched, he said. He said 40 such train sets would be launched in the near future.
To improve the safety of Train 18, in the event of cattle crossing, it has been planned to fit the driver cabin crash guard with aluminium design, he said.
There has been good deal of interest internationally for Train 18, which has gained fame among the people as Vande Bharat Express. There has been interest for the semi-high speed train (Vande Bharat Express) from certain countries in south east Asia and South America for import. 
This would be considered after fulfilling the requirement of Indian Railways. Speaking about infrastructure improvement, he said the works are being planned in that regard across all Coach production units of Indian Railways at a cost of Rs 2,500 crore and added that an amount of Rs 500 crore would be spent for ICF.
Speaking about manufacturing of metro coaches with the standard gauge, he said that efforts were being made with State Government a
nd Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs because ICF has turned out the first Metro coaches in the nation way back in 90’s.
When asked about air conditioned suburban trains at ICF, he said that 12 rakes are planned to be rolled out of ICF. As far as Southern Railway is concerned, the matter will be discussed at Board level and supply of rakes will be finalized. He further added that another Rail Coach Factory at Lattur is now getting ready and likely to be commissioned this year, he said.
It is a matter of pride that ICF has rolled out 3262 coaches last year (2018-19) that makes ICF the largest coach manufacturer in the world. He hoped that in the next year itself, ICF will break its own record by producing more than 4000 coaches.
