Full speed ahead

Integral Coach Factory (ICF), a government-owned facility operating since 1955, is the oldest rail coach manufacturer in India, best known for making India’s flagship train the Vande Bharat Express.

In February this year, Subba Rao joined ICF, as it looks to expand Vande Bharat’s portfolio while maintaining its competitive edge.

“We manufacture close to 3,000 coaches every year and almost 70–80 variants each year. We’re the only coach manufacturing unit in India that makes the Electric Multiple Urban suburban trains that connect to tier one cities,” Rao tells The CEO Magazine.

ICF has led India’s rail infrastructure for the last 70 years. As the country looks to jump into the future with high-speed rails, who better than ICF to take the lead?

New verticals

When Vande Bharat was floated as a concept, ICF had two choices: either buy technology from someone else, as most would do, or buy knockdown kits to assemble parts. Instead, it picked a new route – it designed the train itself.

“Once we figured out the design, we sourced the subassemblies from different places. And the car body, of course, was manufactured in-house. Then we integrated everything. It was a bottom-up approach right from the beginning,” Rao explains.

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ICF has already built 75 out of 100 Vande Bharat trains. As the chair car segment reaches saturation, the next logical progression is the manufacturing of the sleeper version. The prototype is already out and the new Vande Bharat sleeper trains will eventually take longer journeys across India.

Once design and production are completed, ICF aims to fit, finish and upgrade security measures in the coming months. The interior furnishings and painting of the new sleeper cars will be compliant with the highest HL3 hazard levels (EN 45545 standard), which classify railway vehicles based on their fire risk. The coaches are designed and built with improved crashworthy features and anti-climbing buffers in between coaches.

The tangible changes include better utilization of passenger space, faster travel times, fewer vibrations and increased passenger comfort.

ICF also has 50 orders for longer, 24-coach Vande Bharat trains to cater to India’s billion-strong population. Since the dynamics of longer trains are different from conventional trains, they need to be built from the ground up.

“We are designing the couplers, wheels, suspension system and, of course, the HVAC [heating, ventilation and air-conditioning] and train control systems,” Rao explains. “Once the designs are fixed, we will start buying materials. We have already started the purchase process for the propulsion system.”

Rao plans to take Vande Bharat’s blueprint and incorporate it within other networks. Namo Bharat, formally known as Vande Metro, has been launched in Gujarat. It’s ideal for shorter journeys within neighborhoods and has the comfort level of Vande Bharat trains at an affordable cost. Depending on the success of these trains, more such trains will be produced.

In addition, ICF will also build Vande Bharat freight trains to ship parcels faster across the country. One such train is being produced and will be released for service this financial year. The company is also gearing up to produce 250 kilometer-per-hour trains, in collaboration with BEML and National High Speed Rail Corporation.

Considering the exhaustive list of near-term goals, the company could have struggled between different projects. For Rao, however, it’s just part of the territory.

“I have worked in various verticals of the Indian Railways. I’ve worked in production, operations, design and management. I know the issues so I can focus on fixing things,” he reflects. “When I was a Division Railway Manager at Salem, I interacted with diverse groups of people. Talking to passengers gives you a perspective and helps you understand what to do, how quickly we have to deliver and what is actually important.”

Homemade story

Despite the huge responsibilities and superfast development, ICF has stayed unfazed in its commitment to the ‘Make in India’ initiative. For the current lineup of rolling stock, the company doesn’t need to import anything, which encourages ancillary businesses to be set up locally.

ICF also helps suppliers and vendors iron out design flaws so they can be on par with global players.

“There is always faith in the system. They trust us. They believe that whatever we are promising them or we are asking them to do, will help them in their long-term business,” Rao explains.

ICF has developed indigenous sources for the procurement of propulsion systems, automatic doors, brake systems, air conditioning, intercar couplers and gangways, in line with the ‘Make in India’ initiative of the Government of India.

The demand for better and faster rail networks is only going to grow in India. With ICF’s institutional knowledge and design team, Rao is changing the way India travels.