The Integral Coach Factory (ICF) has announced its plans to introduce Vande Bharat trains with heating facilities for the Jammu and Kashmir region in the upcoming year.

B G Mallya, the General Manager of ICF, revealed while addressing the audience after the hoisting of the national flag during the Independence Day celebrations that the forthcoming trains would include heating facilities within the compartments and water lines. He also mentioned that specialised pipes would be integrated to prevent freezing and breakage.

Mallya explained that this initiative was in line with ICF's strategy to create various versions of the Vande Bharat trains. He emphasised that ICF aimed to manufacture 3,241 coaches in about 30 different variants during the current year. He also stated that among these variants, there would be two push-pull trains with LHB coaches to provide a similar travel experience to that of Vande Bharat trains in the non-AC segments.

Furthermore, Mallya elaborated that the new train would have upgraded interiors and premium passenger amenities, similar to those found in the Vande Bharat trains. He added that a specially designed locomotive would be attached to each end of the train to facilitate push-pull operations, thus increasing the speed of the train.

In addition to these plans, ICF intended to produce a sleeper version of the Vande Bharat trains for long-distance travel, a Vande Metro for short-distance intercity commuters, and a Gati Shakti train for expedited freight transportation within the Vande Bharat platform. The Gati Shakti train aimed to streamline the movement of e-commerce items, fast-moving consumer goods, and refrigerated products.

Mallya also highlighted ICF's achievement in enhancing the production capacity of the next-generation Vande Bharat trains, despite encountering various challenges. He pointed out that the factory had exceeded expectations by putting 30 trains into operation so far, connecting cities across the country.

In the previous year, the factory successfully achieved its goal of manufacturing 2,702 coaches, which included 12 state-of-the-art Vande Bharat trains featuring numerous advanced features, alongside 2,261 LHB coaches.

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