1955: The Rollout of the World’s Largest Producer of Rail Coaches

October 2, 1955

Operations began in Perambur, a neighborhood of India’s city of Madras (now known as Chennai), for a newly formed manufacturer of train coaches. Integral Coach Factory (ICF) was officially inaugurated by Jawaharlal Nehru (1889-1964), who served as the first prime minister of India from 1947 until his death.  

The origins of ICF took shape not long after India achieved independence from British rule. At the time, various high-level Indian government officials sought to reduce the large number of rail coaches being imported while still accommodating Indian Railways’ ever-growing train traffic. A defining moment involved the budget for 1949-50 that was submitted by M. Gopalaswami Ayyangar (1882-1953), who served as the country’s minister of railways and transport from 1948 to 1952. In that budget, Ayyangar underscored the need for launching a train coach factory in India itself.

In the decades since its formal debut, ICF has become the world’s largest manufacturer of train coaches. These coaches are used both domestically and as part of the rolling stock of quite a few railway operators across the globe. ICF, which is owned and operated by Indian Railways, employs approximately 10,000 people and rolls out more than 4,000 coaches each year.

ICF now produces well over 170 types of coaches. These include the medium-distance, semi-high speed Vande Bharat Express, which was introduced in 2019 and is featured in the accompanying photo taken in 2023. On June 26, 2024, ICF rolled out the 75,000^th coach it has manufactured since first going into service in 1955.

Photo Credit: Harshul12345 (licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/deed.en)

For more information on Integral Coach Factory (ICF), please check out https://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/chennai/watch-how-chennais-icf-became-a-global-success/article65527429.ece and https://www.thehindubusinessline.com/economy/logistics/icf-rolls-out-75000th-coach-since-its-inception/article68341207.ece