The Integral Coach Factory (ICF) here that was tasked with manufacturing 720 coaches for operating 45 Vande Bharat Express trains across the country in December 2019 is yet to finalise tenders and award work for commencing the ambitious project.
The ongoing lockdown is expected to further delay the project since railways’ coach-making factories are shut. The Railway Board has confirmed that the lockdown has caused 12.5% loss of annual production capacity in workshops/production units.
Post-lockdown, business would not be as usual, taking safety aspects like physical distancing into account, say ICF officials. The focus would initially be on clearing the huge backlog of periodic overhauling of passenger train coaches. It was unlikely that the factory would be able to achieve even half the target set for making coaches for Vande Bharat trains this fiscal, they said.
Train18, India’s first semi-high speed train built by ICF in a record 18-month time in 2018 and flagged off by Prime Minister Narendra Modi as Vande Bharat Express between Delhi and Varanasi, is celebrated as the most successful initiative of the Make in India initiative.
The success of the project triggered a turf war between the Mechanical and Electrical Engineering departments on the ownership of the train resulting in allegations of compromise on safety, procedural flaws and one company being favoured. This led to a vigilance enquiry and transferring out of top officials of Team Train18. The Railway Board sent the design back to the drawing board for safety clearances even as Train18 ran without any issue.
Project restored
A proposal to import the complete train sets from foreign manufacturers evoked stiff resistance from political parties, senior officials and other stake holders who questioned the reasoning behind going global when there was indigenous technology in-house.
The Ministry of Railways finally ordered the ICF to manufacture 720 train sets – 45 rakes of Vande Bharat Express trains – in December 2019. “The tenders are yet to be finalised. We have issued a corrigendum in April with some modifications to the tender specifications and the last date for closing tender is now July 10, 2020. The process of opening tender, scrutiny and award of work for procuring propulsion system electrics and rolling out train sets will take at least two or three months after that,” a senior railway official told The Hindu.
The factory has been shut since March 25 in view of the lockdown and only 33% of the administration staff were working. Even in the event of the production commencing post lockdown, the pace of work would be slow due to physical distancing and other safety norms, the official said.
Revised target
The official said that in the revised coach production programme issued on May 1, 2020, the Ministry had set ICF a target of making 240 coaches (15 Vande Bharat rakes) and 3,024 Linke Hofman Busch coaches for Tejas, Garibrath, Deen Dayalu and other express trains. However, the target is subject to revision as the production capabilities in compliance with the COVID-19 safety protocol would be known later this year, he said.
In a related development, railway sources said that the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet had approved the appointment of ICF’s Principal Chief Mechanical Engineer Anil Kumar Kathpal as Additional Member of the Railway Board. However, the promotion was denied on the grounds that a vigilance enquiry was pending against him and the matter was sent back to the ACC, the sources added.
Attempts were made by The Hindu to get the views of the General Manager, ICF, through the Senior Public Relations Officer, but there was no response.