Railway Ministry approves making of 45 Vande Bharat rakes By ICF

Ministry of Railways had also involved RCF and MCF in the production of rolling out 45 Vande Bharat rakes

As per reliable sources of Railway Board, the Chennai based Integral Coach Factory (ICF) has been accorded the final approval for rolling out 45 sets of Vande Bharat Express rakes by 2021-22.

Sources said, the RDSO has already approved a revised design which will likely ensure that the new Vande Bharat Express rakes will be lighter in weight, and will consume less power, which were a point of contention in the case of the first two rakes operating between Delhi-Varanasi and Delhi-Katra.

The 45 rakes, meaning 720 coaches, that the ICF has been mandated to make now will be on a revised design of the Train-18 model approved by the RDSO, sources said.

Sources say, the approval accorded to the ICF by Railway Board has dealt a death blow to the controversy over the move to import complete train sets by floating global tenders, and ensures no compromise on the Government of India’s Make in India programme.

Sources told that the Ministry of Railways had also sought opinions from the Rail Coach Factory (RCF), Kapurthala, and the Modern Coach Factory (MCF), Raebareli to involve them in the process of rolling out 45 Vande Bharat rakes by 2021-22.