Train journeys are part of every Indian’s memory. As much as we like to complain about the maintenance and cleanliness of the coaches we travel in, ever wondered how they’re made?
While Ashwin Prasath captures what goes on behind-the-scenes Abinaya Kalyanasundaram tells you how it’s done at the Integral Coach Factory in Perambur.
CHENNAI: The Indian Railways is the fourth largest railway network in the world comprising of 1.20 lakh kilometre of total track with over 7,000 stations connecting every small town and city across the subcontinent. Established in 1955, the Integral Coach Factory functions under the Ministry of Railways and is one of the premier establishments for coach manufacturing in India.
ICF manufactures multiple kinds of coaches — self-propelled coaches, accident relief coaches, special tourist coaches and many more, with different classes — second class AC, first class AC, and sleeper class. After the coaches are completed, the railway board allots the coaches for the individual divisional railways. Most of the coaches are supplied to the Indian Railways, but it has also made coaches for railway companies in other countries, including Thailand, Burma, Taiwan, Zambia, Philippines, Tanzania, Uganda, Vietnam, Nigeria, Mozambique and Bangladesh.
The campus
Spread across 473 acres, the campus is so green that it feels almost as if this were a park rather than an industrial factory. It has numerous facilities for its 12,000-plus employees. There are around 3,000 residential units there, with a residence for every one in four employees; a higher ratio when compared to other railway colonies in the country.
Apart from the railway manufacturing factories, the compound also has canteens, hospitals, a lending library with technical books, a fully equipped recreation institute (for ICF employees only), and an Officers’ club. There are also some facilities that are open to public on a rental basis — three marriage halls, open-air stadiums, and an indoor auditorium that can accommodate 625 people. The employees benefit from a staff benefit fund with special facilities for people with disabilities.
Process of making a train
This factory makes integral coaches, which have a monocoque construction, and the floor is an integral unit with the undercarriage. ICF works in two sections — the shell section, and the furnishing section. The shell division manufactures the skeleton of the rail coach, while the furnishing division is concerned with the coach interiors and amenities.
While the main parts — namely the roof, the sidewalls, the underframe and the end walls — are all manufactured within the ICF, the interior smaller parts such as fans and other furnishings are received from the outside market and assembled here. The Rail Wheel Factory, Bengaluru, supplies the wheels and axles (rod between the wheels).
Building the body/shell: Within the mammoth factory space, amid the clangs and bangs of metals, we witness the making of the great Indian railway coaches. A normal compartment has about eight wheels. The underframe (base of the coach) is first to be put in place over the wheels, forming the bogey. After this, the pre-fabricated side walls made of stainless steel are welded onto the bogie and sealed.
Finally the roof, which is made at the ICF, is placed and welded on top of the walls. The end walls are the last to be fitted.
This process of making the shell of a coach will take two days. A significant part of the welding process is automated. There’s also a facility in place for a robotic welding process to fix the side panels; this supplements the manual work done by the labourers. The entire coach is stainless steel as it is more durable and safe, while the wheels are made of iron.
Record
In 2016-2017, ICF churned out 2,277 coaches which is a 13.57% increase over the previous year, when 2,005 coaches were produced.
Other factories in India
There are three factories across India that manufactures rail coaches. In addition to the one in Chennai, there is a Rail Coach Factory in Kapurthala, Punjab, established in 1986 and another Modern Coach Factory in Raebareli, Uttar Pradesh, established in 2012.
LHB coaches
Primarily, the conventional blue-coloured coaches, made of mild steel, were used in the Indian Railways. But over the past few years, India has shifted to a more spacious and better model of German-design coaches — the Linke Hofmann Busch (LHB) coaches. It has better aesthetics, interiors and modular restrooms, and also charging points in every bay.
The ICF has plans to stop conventional coaches and concentrate only on LHB. The advantages of LHB are that it’s stainless steel; it weighs much lesser in comparison, allowing for a higher speed of 160 km/hr, unlike the usual 120km/hr. Which also means it requires efficient braking systems. Presently, the ICF has one complete workshop for making LHB coaches and will also be revamping the old conventional-coach workshops into LHB workshops.
Quality control
At every stage, quality checks are done. For instance, once the shell is completed, it’s taken for a shower to check if there are any leakages in the welding. If there are none, the shell is transported to the furnishing section.
Furnishing division: The shell is furnished over a period of three to four days, on an average. The exteriors of the coach are painted, which takes about half a day, after which the fittings of seats, fans, toilet, electrical, lighting and plumbing are taken care of over the next four days or so.
For more Railway trivia…
Visit the Chennai Rail Museum at Villivakkam for a fun day of walking through the technical and heritage exhibits with a collection of steam engines belonging to the British Raj, vintage coaches with some of the collection dating back more than 100 years as it covers the railway history of South India.
You can even zip in a toy train around the premises on regular days. The museum remains open from 10 am to 6 pm, Tuesday to Sunday. The museum is administered, managed and maintained by the Integral Coach Factory, Chennai.