Railways Minister Suresh Prabhu today launched the LHB unit at the Integral Coach Factory here, set up at a cost of Rs 252 crore.
The Ministry of Railways had in 2011 sanctioned the unit at a cost of Rs 252 crore for manufacturing 300 LHB stainless steel coaches with the state-of-the-art technology.
In view of the need to switch over to stainless steel coaches, a project was sanctioned under the "Modernization and Expansion" of ICF to manufacture technology upgraded coaches with an increased production capacity from 1,500 to 1,700 coaches per year.
Prabhu launched the unit through a video conference facility, an ICF press release said.
About 100 LHB shells have already been manufactured at the facility, the release said.
The LHB unit has a capacity of producing 300 coaches per year (including high speed FIAT bogies). The foundation stone for the LHB unit was laid in April, 2012.
Prabhu also flagged off the 50,000 coach manufactured at ICF since it began inception in 1955.
ICF produces close to 2,000 coaches per year and has produced 50,000 coaches since its inception approximately in 500 different designs.
The 50,000th coach was formally launched by the Minister.
In 2014-15, ICF produced 1,704 coaches consisting of 50 variants involving high technological inputs, the release said.
