Date:08/10/2006 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2006/10/08/stories/2006100805960500.htm

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

ICF rolls out coaches for Angola

Special Correspondent

Factory will soon get more export orders, says Railway Board Member

GOING GLOBAL: R.K. Rao, Member (Mechanical), Railway Board (left), having a look at the coach, which will be shipped to Angola, at Integral Coach Factory in Perambur on Saturday. ICF General Manager P. Raja Goundan (second from left) is also in the picture. — Photo: V. Ganesan

CHENNAI: Coaches rolled out by the Integral Coach Factory will soon run in Angola, marking yet another milestone in the factory's global odyssey. This is for the first time that the ICF is supplying coaches to Angola, which will be operated in a territory of Angolan Railways.

The ICF got the order for export of 56 coaches through the RITES. In the first batch, 22 second-class day coaches are being shipped.

Flagging off the first coach here on Saturday, R.K. Rao, Member (Mechanical), Railway Board, said the ICF would soon get more export orders, as the RITES had an order book for $59 million dollars, all for the supply of coaches.

Second batch

ICF General Manager P. Raja Goundan said all coaches were designed to operate in cape gauge, which was prevalent only in African countries. The second batch of 19 coaches would be despatched by November this year, and in the last batch, 15 coaches would be shipped by April next. The cost of making these coaches was about Rs 55 crore.

Talking to journalists earlier, Mr. Rao, who is also the chairman of the RITES, said the ICF's annual production capacity was being increased to 1,500 coaches from the current 1,200 coaches. It would soon make world-class coaches for internal use.

Mr. Goundan said that earlier the ICF had exported coaches to 12 countries, including Malaysia and Myanmar. It was likely to get export orders from Sudan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. The ICF would soon start making state-of-the-art, world-class coaches with modern facilities. The ICF's order book, Mr.Goundan said, consisted of two DEMU coaches for Jammu and Kashmir, A/C chair cars for "Garib Rath' to be introduced by Indian Railways in the current financial year and supply of AC/DC coaches for Mumbai metro services. To increase the production capacity to 1500 coaches, infrastructure would be improved at a cost of Rs. 300 crore, including Rs. 40 crore for setting up a modern painting unit.