R ARIVANANTHAM
CHENNAI, MAY 27
Aiming to meet the high demand for the indigenously designed trains, the Integral Coach Factory (ICF) in Chennai will manufacture 77 Vande Bharat Express rakes during the current financial year (2023-24), said General Manager, B G Mallya here on Friday.
Addressing the media after conducting the press tour to know the Vande Bharat coach manufacturing process at different stages at ICF, Mallya said after getting initial feedback the design of the train will also be tweaked a bit in such way that if a cattle comes on the way, it will catch the cattle and throw away from the track in case of a hit. Besides these, the trains have CCTVs both sides to identify the stone pelters, so far two such stone pelters’ were identified from the CCTV footage, he added.
- If a cattle comes on its way, it will catch the cattle and throw away from the track in case of a hit: GM
- The Railway Bard has ordered for 16 lakh sets of forged wheel sets domestically from a private sector company, these sets will be supplied over the period of 20 years
- The ICF, which is the sole producer of VB train sets in the country, rolled out 21st VB rake on Friday
He appeals the media to sensitise the public not to allow their cattle to roam on the rail tracks and advocated barricading the railway lines will resolve cattle menace.
Due to pandemic the availability of the integrated chips and forged wheels from the war-tone Ukrain, production of VB rakes were slowed down. Once these problems overcome, production would kickstart. In the meantime, the Railway Bard has ordered for 16 lakh sets of forged wheel sets domestically from a private sector company, these sets will be supplied over the period of 20 years, Mallya added.
Replying to a query on complying Aatmanirbhar Bharat (Make in India policy) of the GoI, the General Manager said that 85 to 90 percent of parts of Vande Bharat rakes are indigenized.
Replying to another query, he said that the government has ordered for 200 Sleeper rakes, out of these the ICF got the order to manufacture 80 Vande Bharat rakes. ICF is in the process of designing the prototype of Sleeper coaches for Vande Bharat, once it is approved, the sleeper coaches would be readied in another 24 to 30 months, he added.
The sleeper coach train of the Vande Bharat will have total of 16 cars set, out of which one first-class, four second-class and 11 three-tier coaches. The sleeper coaches of the VB Express will have a total passenger carrying capacity of 830.
The ICF, which is the sole producer of VB train sets in the country, rolled out 21st VB rake on Friday (May 26, 2023).
Vande Bharat train has been tested to 180 kmph and could be operated at a maximum speed of 160 kmph. The VB Express on the Agra-Delhi section was operated at the maximum speed and it being operated at a speed of 130 kmph from Chennai-Renigunta section.
The ICF is also designing a 15-coach Vande Bharat suburban train, which would be 12-feet wide, and can carry a maximum of 6,000 people.
ICF also designing a prototype for the Vande Bharat Metro, which will also be a replacement for the mainline electrical multiple coach (EMU) operated at a speed of 130 kmph like the MEMU services operated between Arakkonam and Jolarpet.
Mallya said that one train set of the Vande Bharat Metro is to be manufactured by the ICF this financial year and it can carry about 300 persons, he added.
Press tour of ICF was organized by the Press Information Bureau, Chennai. M Annadurai, Additional Director-General of PIB thanked the reporters who have turned up for the coverage.
Top officials from ICF and PIB were also present at the press conference.
