The Integral Coach Factory (ICF) in Chennai designs and develops Indian Railway's first semi-high-speed train, Vande Bharat Express. It features world-class services and amenities and is sleek, modern, and fully air-conditioned.
Vande Bharat Express is a special train representing the best Indian technology and engineering. Its fusion of speed, comfort, and luxury has made it a popular choice among passengers and will undoubtedly play a significant role in the future of Indian Railways.
BC MaIlya, the General Manager of Integral Coach Factory (ICF), Chennai, said, "We will be shortly doing the sleeper version of the Vande Bharat, which will be suited for long-distance travel. So the next thing which will happen is the sleeper version of Vande Bharat. We want to roll out a few trends this year. We are working on it."
The General Manager added while speaking on the features of Vande Bharat in the coming days, "In the future, we will be going in for aluminium car trains. So, that will be lightweight. And once it is light, the energy consumption comes down. So, that is one preeminent development that is what happened. We have not made any aluminium car body trains in the past. That would be the first time ICF did aluminium car body trains."
"So, lightweight would improve energy efficiency because the training rate decreases. We are doing only chair cars today; the journey's maximum length is about eight hours. So, the power requirement reduces. Once aluminium is used, the weight of the train reduces considerably, and the power required for running at a particular speed in a specific terrain, that requirement also comes down."
"The advantage of using aluminium compared to stainless steel which we use today. Cost and all would be different production. The effort is to reduce cycle time to make the rollout faster. So these things once the project is taken up at ICF, we will be working on that. But as such, there is a tender for the aluminium car body Vande Bharat train."
The Indian govt planned to manufacture 46 trains with 16 cars per train in the next financial year.
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