On
the export front, what started
as mere 2 bogies to Thailand in
1967-68, and 113 coaches to Taiwan
in 1971-72, ICF has made rapid
strides with export of various
types of coaches to Zambia, Philippines,
Tanzania, Uganda, Bangladesh and
Vietnam More...
The
Beginning
With
the decision of the Ministry
of Railways to locate the
Integral Coach Factory
at Perambur, a team of
engineers under the leadership
of Mr M.Ganapathi of Chittaranjan
reputation took up site
investigation and preparation
of designs & drawings
in May 1951. The factory
initially consisted of
10 shops with a covered
area of 8,84,600 sq.ft
laid out on the then most
modern lines. Raw materials
were received at one end,
progressed through the
factory in a uniflow and
finished coaches rolled
out at the other end. While
the factory was taking
shape, construction works
for Administrative Office
building, Worker’s
Canteen and Staff Colony
also progressed rapidly.
The entire construction
was completed within a
record time of three years.
A Sports Stadium was sanctioned
at a cost of Rs.42,000/-
and was completed during
1961-62.
Identification
and procurement of modern
plant & machinery was
simultaneously taken up,
to avoid any time lag between
completion of civil engineering
works and installation of
plant & machinery. Though
machines of indigenous manufacture
were considered, manufacturing
capacity in the country was
not yet fully developed and
it became inevitable to import
bulk of them. Global tenders
were therefore, called in
Nov 1953 and were finalised
by March-April 1954. It was
considered advisable to leave
the task of inspecting these
machines to the experts of
the Swiss company in order
to ensure that machines were
suitable in every aspect.
The first Kirloskar 8½” centre
lathe was installed by the
then Railway Minister Shri
Lal Bahadur Shastri in the
machine shop on 20th Jan
1955.
Innauguration
Perhaps
the most important event
was the inauguration of production
in the factory by the then
Prime Minister Pandit Jawaharlal
Nehru on 02.10.1955. Thus
this great factory, ICF,
came into being with Shri
K.Sadagopan, as the first
Chief Administrative Officer.
Dignitaries present on this
occasion included Shri Lal
Bahadur Shastri, Railway
Minister; Shri O.V.Alagesan,
Dy. Minister for Railways;
Shri K.Kamaraj, Chief Minister
of Madras Presidency and
Mr.U.Huber, Director of the
Swiss company, for whom this
was a proud moment, a witness
to the consummation of the
efforts of his experts working
in collaboration with Indian
engineers.
For
further clarifications / suggestions please contact webmastericf@gmail.com
