Relishing our Railways Part 1
Know your coach better!
ICF stands for Integral Coach Factory which is located in Perambur in the suburbs of Chennai. It was established way back in 1955 and has manufactured more than 50000 rail coaches since then. Even after the Rail Coach factory was established in Kapurthala in 1984, it still has a lion's share in the coaches which Indian Railways uses today. In fact, if you are travelling in a train, it's highly probably that the coach you're in was manufactured in ICF, Chennai. We all are familiar with the Blue and white ubiquitous coaches of the Indian Railways. But do you know about the history of coach liveries(liveries are the colours or theme on a rail coach) ?
Well.. Till the early 1990s, trains in India had a rich palette with various colors adorning its coaches. Then the Railways, in a 'standardisation measure' painted almost all its coaches in rust brown color which were dull and monotonous. Then came our present day Blue and white coaches which were painted so as to differentiate these new air braked coaches from the older vacuum braked rust brown coaches.
Then in 1998, Indian Railways started searching for lighter and faster options and they finally zeroed in on the Link Hofmann Busche(LHB) coaches. At first, 24 LHB coaches were imported from Germany and these were used only for Rajdhani and Shatabdi trains. Gradually, Durontos too got LHB coaches, with some of them being hybrid LHB ones. Hybrid LHB coaches have an LHB shell with a modified ICF bogie. After this, the LHB coaches were extended to more and more trains like AC Expresses. Today, various trains such as the Tejas express, Humsafar Express and Gatimaan Express joining the ranks. Of late, even Non AC LHB coaches have been used in the Indian Railways with the Antyodaya express(complete unreserved sitting) being the latest example.
The ICF has recently stopped manufacturing the old blue white coaches and would be manufacturing only LHB coaches from this year. So, why was this done? There are many reasons for this, with aesthetic beauty being just a trivial one!
The following are the reasons why I would prefer an LHB rake possessing train over an ICF rake one anyday:
1.LHB coaches have a good design which makes it more spacious, aesthetic and well lit. It has large observation windows which are definitely good for someone who's interested in viewing the sceneries outside the moving train. These have more efficient ACs controlled by microprocessors. Also the number of charging points are adequate. The toilets are better designed than its ICF coach counterparts.
2. LHB coaches have a higher speed limit than ICF coaches. While the ICF coaches have a speed limit of only 110 kmph, LHB coaches boast of speed limit of 160 kmph.
3. LHB coaches are anti telescopic. This means that in an unfortunate event of train accident, these coaches do not climb on each other and the loss of lives are much lesser. This is due to CBC or Center Buffer Coupler. Hence, LHB is safer than ICF coaches.
4. The LHB bogies have lesser moving parts than its ICF counterparts. This results in lesser maintainance required for it.
5. The LHB coaches are.1.7 metres longer than ICF ones and hence enhance seating capacity of the coaches.
6. It has advanced pneumatic braking system for efficient braking at high speeds.
7. Noise made by LHB coaches is 40% less than ICF coaches.
These things make LHB coaches the clear winner in the contest comparing it with other ICF coaches.
It has only 2 drawbacks:
1. The coaches do not generate their own power. This results in reliance on the generator or power car which are at the ends of the rakes.
2.The coaches sometimes have sudden jerks when brakes are applied.
So.. The next time you travel in an LHB coach don't just think of it as a coach with a different color but also think how safe and comfortable it is when compared to the ICF ones.
Happy Journey!
ICF stands for Integral Coach Factory which is located in Perambur in the suburbs of Chennai. It was established way back in 1955 and has manufactured more than 50000 rail coaches since then. Even after the Rail Coach factory was established in Kapurthala in 1984, it still has a lion's share in the coaches which Indian Railways uses today. In fact, if you are travelling in a train, it's highly probably that the coach you're in was manufactured in ICF, Chennai. We all are familiar with the Blue and white ubiquitous coaches of the Indian Railways. But do you know about the history of coach liveries(liveries are the colours or theme on a rail coach) ?
Well.. Till the early 1990s, trains in India had a rich palette with various colors adorning its coaches. Then the Railways, in a 'standardisation measure' painted almost all its coaches in rust brown color which were dull and monotonous. Then came our present day Blue and white coaches which were painted so as to differentiate these new air braked coaches from the older vacuum braked rust brown coaches.
Then in 1998, Indian Railways started searching for lighter and faster options and they finally zeroed in on the Link Hofmann Busche(LHB) coaches. At first, 24 LHB coaches were imported from Germany and these were used only for Rajdhani and Shatabdi trains. Gradually, Durontos too got LHB coaches, with some of them being hybrid LHB ones. Hybrid LHB coaches have an LHB shell with a modified ICF bogie. After this, the LHB coaches were extended to more and more trains like AC Expresses. Today, various trains such as the Tejas express, Humsafar Express and Gatimaan Express joining the ranks. Of late, even Non AC LHB coaches have been used in the Indian Railways with the Antyodaya express(complete unreserved sitting) being the latest example.
The ICF has recently stopped manufacturing the old blue white coaches and would be manufacturing only LHB coaches from this year. So, why was this done? There are many reasons for this, with aesthetic beauty being just a trivial one!
The following are the reasons why I would prefer an LHB rake possessing train over an ICF rake one anyday:
1.LHB coaches have a good design which makes it more spacious, aesthetic and well lit. It has large observation windows which are definitely good for someone who's interested in viewing the sceneries outside the moving train. These have more efficient ACs controlled by microprocessors. Also the number of charging points are adequate. The toilets are better designed than its ICF coach counterparts.
2. LHB coaches have a higher speed limit than ICF coaches. While the ICF coaches have a speed limit of only 110 kmph, LHB coaches boast of speed limit of 160 kmph.
3. LHB coaches are anti telescopic. This means that in an unfortunate event of train accident, these coaches do not climb on each other and the loss of lives are much lesser. This is due to CBC or Center Buffer Coupler. Hence, LHB is safer than ICF coaches.
4. The LHB bogies have lesser moving parts than its ICF counterparts. This results in lesser maintainance required for it.
5. The LHB coaches are.1.7 metres longer than ICF ones and hence enhance seating capacity of the coaches.
6. It has advanced pneumatic braking system for efficient braking at high speeds.
7. Noise made by LHB coaches is 40% less than ICF coaches.
These things make LHB coaches the clear winner in the contest comparing it with other ICF coaches.
It has only 2 drawbacks:
1. The coaches do not generate their own power. This results in reliance on the generator or power car which are at the ends of the rakes.
2.The coaches sometimes have sudden jerks when brakes are applied.
So.. The next time you travel in an LHB coach don't just think of it as a coach with a different color but also think how safe and comfortable it is when compared to the ICF ones.
Happy Journey!
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ReplyDeleteThe blue coaches were Swiss models
ReplyDeleteThanks! Yes, they were designed by Swiss Car and Elevator Manufacturing Co but were made in India. I missed out that point
DeleteActually they were designed by the Swiss company in collaboration with ICF, so I've used ICF rake everywhere in my article(as they are referred today)
Delete