ICF Chennai likely to roll out remaining 9 Vande Bharat sleepers this year
The premier coach factory, which ideated and manufactured the country’s first VB train, is confident that it will roll out the remaining nine Vande Bharat sleeper trains before the end of December.
Vande Bharat sleepers
CHENNAI: ICF (Integral Coach Factory) is likely to roll out the nine remaining Vande Bharat sleeper trains before the end of the year. The premier coach factory, which ideated and manufactured the country’s first VB train, is confident that it will roll out the remaining nine Vande Bharat sleeper trains before the end of December.
The ICF had silently delivered the first Vande Bharat sleeper version to the Northern Railway zone around two months ago without much fanfare. Senior ICF officials disclosed to DT Next that the first train underwent a few rounds of tweaking in the aftermath of separate testing of the rakes by RDSO (Research Designs and Standards Organisation), the R&D wing of the Indian Railways, and Commissioner of Rail Safety (CRS). “The first rake is operation-ready. Considering that the RDSO and safety commissioner have given their clearance, it is up to the Railway Ministry to fix the date of inauguration of the VB sleeper service,” the officials said.
Inspired by the steady progress of the 16-car sleeper version of VB train manufacturing, a highly placed ICF official said, “Unlike the first VB sleeper train, we now know the upgrades/tweaks required. The experience gained in the first train production has made our job easy. It is because of this confidence we say that the nine rakes will likely be delivered before December end instead of the March 2026 deadline.”
The first VB sleeper train underwent rigorous long-distance speed trials between the 540km Ahmedabad-Mumbai stretch by RDSO, which was followed by a short distance trial at 180kmph in Kota division in early January. The sleeper version of VB has the capacity to hold 1,128 passengers with facilities like modular toilet cabins with showers, automatic doors, Wi-Fi, engineered train insulation, fire barrier wall, talkback system and Kavach collision prevention systems.
READ RELATED STORIES
Vande Bharat Sleeper version gets ready at ICF; check photos, details
Vande Bharat Sleeper train commissioning under way, ICF Chennai to make 60 rakes
