The Integral Coach Factory (ICF) at Perambur rolled out its 80,000th coach, an Amrit Bharat coach, in early February 2026, DT Next reported. Jawaharlal Nehru inaugurated the factory on 2 October 1955, and it has since become the world’s largest coach producer by its own count. It is also where every Vande Bharat trainset so far has been designed and built.
For a city that tends to think of ICF as a railway colony, a school and a museum, the factory is also one of Chennai’s largest manufacturers. Here is what it makes and what its production figures say.
Seven decades in brief
ICF’s own history lists these milestones:
- 1955: production of all-steel, all-welded coach shells begins, with capacity of 350 shells a year.
- 1962: the furnishing division opens on 2 October, so the factory can deliver fully fitted coaches.
- 1990: 1,000 coaches in a single year for the first time.
- 2019-20: a record 4,166 coaches, which ICF describes as the highest annual output of any coach maker in the world.
- October 2025: more than 79,000 coaches built since inception, and 93 Vande Bharat rakes.
How many coaches a year
| Year | ICF output or target | Source |
|---|---|---|
| 2019-20 | 4,166 coaches (record) | ICF |
| 2024-25 | 3,007 coaches, including 1,830 LHB coaches | ICF; IANS |
| 2025-26 | about 2,350 coaches in the Railway Board programme | Railway Board |
The 2025-26 figure is the planned number in the Railway Board’s coach production programme, which also tasks ICF with 50 Vande Bharat sleeper rakes of 24 coaches each across 2025-26 and 2026-27. The document is a scanned table and hard to read in places, so treat the total as approximate. In June 2025, Minister of State V. Somanna said during a visit that ICF was aiming for 4,200 coaches that year, News On AIR reported. The two figures measure different things, and the final 2025-26 output had not been published on the pages checked.
The programme also shows how ICF compares with India’s two other coach factories. For 2025-26, the Railway Board set the Rail Coach Factory at Kapurthala about 3,600 coaches and the Modern Coach Factory at Rae Bareli about 2,742. ICF’s LHB share was put at 1,436 coaches, with the rest of its load made up of self-propelled trains such as EMUs, MEMUs and Vande Bharat sets. That mix is the reason ICF’s coach count can fall in a year when its work does not: a single Vande Bharat rake takes far more engineering than an ordinary coach.
Across Indian Railways, the three coach factories built 7,134 coaches in 2024-25, up 9% from 6,541 the year before, IANS reported. ICF’s 3,007 was its share.
Vande Bharat, from chair car to sleeper
The first Vande Bharat Express ran between New Delhi and Varanasi from 15 February 2019, according to a PIB factsheet of January 2026. The upgraded 2.0 version followed on 30 September 2022 on the Gandhinagar to Mumbai Central route. ICF builds the trainsets with about 90% local content.
The sleeper version was planned to start on the Howrah to Guwahati route in January 2026. Its 16 air-conditioned coaches are one first class, four two-tier and eleven three-tier, for about 823 passengers, and it reached up to 180 km/h in trials. Longer 24-coach sleeper rakes are the next production step at Perambur.
Speeds have climbed with each version. The first trainset was designed for a top speed of 160 km/h. Vande Bharat 2.0 has a design maximum of 180 km/h and runs at up to 160 km/h where the track allows, the PIB factsheet says. ICF’s general manager in February 2026 was U. Subba Rao, according to DT Next.
What else Perambur makes
Besides standard LHB coaches, ICF builds EMU and MEMU suburban trains, air-conditioned EMUs, accident relief trains, luxury tourist coaches, Vistadome coaches with glass roofs and coaches for the Kolkata Metro. It has also exported coaches to countries in Asia and Africa. Chennai’s own suburban EMUs and the new AC locals are Perambur products.
Why it matters to Chennai
The factory floor is not open to the public, but its effects are visible across north Chennai. Capital works listed in ICF’s final budget grant for 2024-25 include expanding LHB coach capacity and building extra infrastructure for series production of Vande Bharat rakes at ICF, so the factory is still adding capacity rather than winding down older lines. Perambur and Villivakkam suburban stations are the closest for anyone with business at the factory offices.
Quick answers
When was ICF Chennai started?
It was inaugurated by Jawaharlal Nehru on 2 October 1955.
How many coaches has ICF built?
Over 79,000 by October 2025, and its 80,000th coach rolled out in February 2026.
How many Vande Bharat rakes has ICF made?
93 rakes as of October 2025, by ICF’s count.
What was ICF’s best year?
2019-20, with 4,166 coaches.
Information checked against official sources on 18 October 2026. Fees, dates and rules can change; confirm on the linked official pages before acting.
Sources
- About ICF (Integral Coach Factory)
- Coach Production Programme 2025-26 (Railway Board)
- Vande Bharat factsheet, January 2026 (PIB)
- ICF targets 4,200 coaches this year: MoS V. Somanna (News On AIR)
- ICF rolls out 80,000th coach (DT Next)
- Indian Railways clocks 9 pc growth in coach manufacturing in FY25 (IANS)
- Final grant for 2024-25, works and production units (Integral Coach Factory)
