Indian Railway expedites safety plan as derailments rise

The retrofitting of the current ICF coaches will be an interim safety measure, before converting the entire fleet to the LHB coaches.

Moneycontrol News

The Indian Railways has decided to expedite its plan to make coaches safer for passengers, after a series of railway derailments, according to a report in The Financial Express.

The Railways plans to upgrade its old Integral Coach Factory (ICF) passenger coaches by adding centre-buffer couplers. It also plans to convert its entire fleet to the Linke-Hoffman-Busch (LHB) coaches in ten years time, as part of a Rs 1.5 lakh crore project.

According to the report, Railways will select coaches which are older than 15 years for retrofitting with safety couplers, which have improved safety features designed to prevent the coaches from toppling and piling up in an event of a derailment, thereby reducing casualties.

The retrofitting of these coaches is, however, an interim safety measure, before converting the entire fleet to the LHB coaches.

The Railways will only induct LHB coaches starting April 1, 2018 and will start phasing out the ICF coaches completely. The newspaper, quoted a source, said that ICF coaches will not be manufactured any further.

The LHB coaches are more expensive in comparison to the ICF coaches. A general class LHB coach costs about Rs 3.5 crore whereas an ICF coach of the same category costs Rs 2.5 crore.Currently, there are around 60,000 coaches plying out of which around 40,000 are ICF-type coaches.