Indian Railways is the fourth largest rail network in the world. Crores of people travel by these trains every day. You must have often seen in these trains that mostly blue and red colored coaches are installed. Coaches in express trains, including some passenger trains, are mostly blue in colour, but premium class trains, including Rajdhani and Superfast, have red colored coaches. Today we will tell you the reason for these colors.
What are ICF and LHB coaches?
Crores of people travel by trains in India every day. . Therefore, Indian Railways removes train coaches from passenger services when the time comes and new coaches are installed in their place. Two types of coaches are providing services in Indian Railways. These are ICF (Integral Coach Factory) and LHB (Linke Hofmann Busch).
What is LHB coach
Let us tell you the comparison of ICF coach. LHB coaches are better and safer in India. LHB coaches are designed under antitelescopic design, which means they do not collide with each other and do not fall easily. LHB coaches are made of stainless steel, which increases the shock absorbing capacity in case of an accident. Apart from this it also makes them lighter and increases the carrying capacity. Apart from this, the coupling system in LHB coaches reduces the relative motion between two coaches and prevents one coach from hitting the other coach in the event of an accident. LHB coaches have an average speed of 160 kmph and a top speed of 200 kmph.
ICF Coaches
Integral Coach Factory (ICF) The factory is located in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. Let us tell you that it was established in 1952. These coaches are made of iron, hence they are heavy. Whereas air brake is used in it. Apart from this, Railways also incurs high expenses in its maintenance. If we talk about seating capacity in it, its capacity is less. The total seats in spoiler are 72 and in third AC are 64. Apart from this, these coaches are 1.7 meters shorter than LHB coaches. Especially after an accident, its compartments get stacked one above the other, because it has a Dual Buffer system. ICF coaches also require periodic overhaul once in 18 months. Its average speed is 70 km per hour and top speed is 140 km per hour.
Coach usage period
ICF coaches are made of steel. And their codel life is 25 years, hence till this period they are used as passenger bogies. After this they are removed from service. Whereas LHB coaches are made of stainless steel and their codel life is 30 years.
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