The Minister of Railways, Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu released the 50000th Coach manufactured by Integral Coach Factory (ICF), Chennai, a production unit of Indian Railways, at a programme conducted between Rail Bhawan, New Delhi and ICF factory premises Chennai through Video Conferencing.
Prabhu also dedicated the New LHB Coach (Modern Passenger Coach) manufacturing Unit in ICF itself to the nation.
ICF has achieved the distinction of being the only coach manufacturer in the world to have manufactured 50000 coaches. ICF coaches have moved India for the last about 60 years and will continue to do so for many years to come.
Present on the occasion were Chairman Railway Board, A. K. Mital and other Railway Board members, V. K. Saraswat, Member NITI Aayog, Hemant Kumar, Member Mechanical, Railway Board, and Ashok K. Agarwal, General Manager, ICF.
Speaking on the occasion, Prabhu said that it is a proud moment for Indian Railways when the 50,000th coach manufactured by ICF has been released. He said that when in future we release 1,00,000th coach, we expect it to be the most modern coach going even beyond our present imagination. "We need to setup Global Standards in manufacturing rolling stocks and Indian Railway has already signed an MOU with National Institute of Design (NID) to improve internal design of the coaches for better comfort and convenience of the passengers," he added.
Regarding LHB coaches, he pointed out that Indian Railways will accelerate production of these modern coaches which have better safety features, higher ride comfort, superior passengers' amenities and high speed potential.
Referring to the quality, he commented that there is a need to focus on materials and hence Indian Railways is collaborating with academic institutions like IITs, BHU, Mumbai University etc. to undertake research on these matters and consequently come out with appropriate solutions.
Referring to improvement in Loco technology, the Minister said that we should develop triple fuel locos like electricity, Diesel and CNG. The Minister also said that Indian Railways soon will roll out Solar Powered Passengers Coaches.
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