India: The national operator, Indian Railways (IR), reports that its three car and coach manufacturing plants built 7,134 units in FY2024, which runs from April 2024 to March 2025. This figure is 9% higher than the previous year’s result of 6,541 units.
Although the national operator describes this as a new national record, it should be borne in mind that the production figures may include overhauled rolling stock and there is no way of isolating the actual production figures on the basis of publicly available sources.
IR’s largest plant, Integral Coach Factory, ICF, in Chennai built 3,007 coaches. 1,169 of these are cars for electric and diesel EMUs, including 21 EMUs Vande Bharat with seating cars, the first 16-car Vande Bharat with sleeping cars and the first 12-car Namo Bharat. The remaining 1,838 units are coaches based on the LHB platform and four 22-car Amrit Bharat push-pull trains.
Two other plants, RCF in Kapurthala and MCF in Raebareli, built 2,102 and 2,025 units, or +9.5% and 16.8%, respectively, to FY 2023. RCF’s production includes the first Vande Metro train.
Earlier, India reported another record in the number of locomotives produced. Seeing such potential, all global rolling stock manufacturers are attracted to the Indian market.
