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LHB coaches | Indian Railway Turn Around News
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Infrastructure at rail workshop in Mysore being ramped up The infrastructure at the Central Railway Workshop in Mysore city is being ramped up for undertaking the periodic overhauling and maintenance of Linke Holfmann Busch (LHB) coaches that constitute the rakes of the Shatabdi and the Rajdhani trains. This is part of the capacity building of the railway workshops across the country as the Indian Railways plans to substitute the conventional Integral Coach Factory-designed coaches with the German technology-based LHB coaches for most Indian trains in the long run. “The Mysore workshop has been upgraded to handle the LHB coaches and 29 such coaches have been overhauled here since October 2012. The workshop’s installed capacity at present is to take up maintenance of eight LHB coaches a month or 96 coaches a year. This is in addition to the periodic overhauling and maintenance of 70 ICF-designed coaches a month, of which 10 will be AC coaches. The workshop also takes up intermediate overhauling of 40 coaches a month,” Mr. U. Subba Rao, chief workshop manager, said. Though the LHB coaches are expensive (One LHB coach costs about Rs. 1.8 crore while an for an ICF coach costs Rs. 65 lakh), they are found to be more efficient and capable of higher speeds ranging from 160 kmph to 200 kmph and reckoned to be safer while providing greater ride comfort. The LHB coaches at present are air-conditioned, the Railways has designed non-AC LHB coaches as well and they will supplant the conventional ICF coaches in future, according to Mr. Subba Rao. V. Suresh, senior section engineer, Bogie Repair Shop, said there were nearly 100 LHB coaches operating out of the Bangalore Railway Division but as Bangalore does not have a railway workshop, infrastructure had been put in place at the Central Workshop at Ashokapuram here for coach maintenance. “The load will be shared between the Mysore and the Hubli workshops, and we have presented a proposal for capacity upgrading,” Mr. Rao added. Machinery The staff here have designed a hydraulic press, reckoned to be the most important machinery for coach maintenance. While a few testing equipment have been procured, there are other requirements such as a surface traverser for shifting coaches, which costs around Rs. 3.5 crore, he said. A proposal has been submitted for the construction of a new building at a cost of Rs. 5 crore. Conventional ICF coaches require periodic overhauling once every 18 months against once in 72 months for LHB coaches. The workshop staff have been sent for training at Lower Parel in Mumbai and at the Jagadhri workshop in Haryana where they have been working on LHB coaches for almost 10 years, according to Mr. Rao. The Rail Coach Factory at Kapurthala, Punjab, manufactured 460 LHB coaches last year and the ICF at Perambur, Tamil Nadu, was scaling up the LHB production. The new factory established at Raebareli, Uttar Pradesh, was exclusively meant for the production of LHB coaches, Mr. Rao added. http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/karnataka/infrastructure-at-rail-workshop-in-mysore-being-ramped-up/article4745687.ece Published in: Uncategorized on May 25, 2013 at 3:29 am Leave a Comment Tags: Bogie Repair Shop, Central Railway Workshop in Mysore, chief workshop manager, Integral Coach Factory, Jagadhri workshop in Haryana, LHB, LHB coaches, Linke Holfmann Busch (LHB), Rail Coach Factory at Kapurthala, rail workshop in Mysore, railway workshops, Rajdhani trains
Doubledecker coaches to have fire safety system The Railways has decided to equip all new doubledecker coaches with automatic smoke detector systems to prevent any fire incident. The proposed Chennai—Bangalore and Habibgunj—Indore doubledecker trains will be operational with full—fledged fire alarm systems, a senior railway ministry official involved with the safety measure said. However, Delhi—Jaipur and Howrah—Dhanbad doubledecker trains, which are already operational, as well as Rajdhani, Shatabdi and Duronto trains, would be equipped with the system in due course as per the fire safety measures initiated by Railways, he said. Research Designs and Standard Organisation has finalised the specification for the system and tendering process is on for awarding the contract, the minister said. Once the vendor is selected for the job, all the LHB and doubledecker coaches will be fitted with the fire alarm system at the manufacturing level, while retrofitting procedures will be adopted for the already manufactured LHB coaches, he said. Fire alarm systems, vital for protection of lives and assets, is very complicated in trains due to the electrical environment, vibrations, and variation in temperature and humidity, which can interfere with the system’s functioning, he said, adding, the system has been developed after several trials in the Bhubaneswar Rajdhani Express. Describing its functioning, he said there are three layers of warning in the smoke detection system. In the first stage, when some smoke is detected, an alert will be sent to a console, which would be manned by a guard. . “The guard will alert the coach attendant accordingly after seeing the warning on the console,” he said. indianrlys.wordpress.com/tag/lhb-coaches/
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If more smoke starts coming out from the same coach, a strobe light would be flashed simultaneously outside that coach and on the console manned by the guard, he said. Finally, automatic brakes will be applied to stop the train, followed by a hooter sound, if the system detects considerable amount of smoke or fire in the coach, he said. The LHB coaches have fire retardant quality. “The materials used for flooring, seating arrangement, curtains and vestibules in the LHB coaches are all fire retardant,” he said.PTI http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-in-school/doubledecker-coaches-to-have-fire-safety-system/article4065575.ece Published in: Uncategorized on November 8, 2012 at 4:25 pm Comments (1) Tags: automatic brakes, Doubledecker coaches, doubledecker trains, fire alarm systems, LHB coaches, smoke detection system
Railways to double up production of new age LHB coaches Railways have decided to double the production of new age LHB coaches keeping in mind their enhanced safety features, which have come in for praise from a high-level safety panel. The production will be scaled up from about 400 Linke Holfmann Bush (LHB) coaches to 800 coaches, utilising them for running not only for Rajdhani, Shatabdi and Duronto trains but also for running mail and express trains. http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2012-02-24/news/31095405_1_conventional-coaches-lhb-linke-holfmann-bush Published in: Uncategorized on March 3, 2012 at 8:26 am Leave a Comment Tags: LHB coaches
Production of LHB coaches to be increased Indian Railways plans to progressively increase the manufacture of new LHB (Linke Hofmann Bush) design coaches, the Lok Sabha was informed today. A complete switchover to new manufacture of only LHB design coaches, the technology for which was acquired through a Transfer of Technology (TOT) agreement with M/s ALSTOM, Germany, is envisaged by the end of the 12th Five Year Plan (2012-17), Minister of State for Railways K H Muniyappa said in a written reply. The existing conventional Integral Coach Factory (ICF) design coaches would, however, still remain in service. These coaches have some superior features as compared to the conventional ICF design coach — like having a longer service life, enhanced safety standards, particularly crash worthiness, high carrying capacity of about 10-12 per cent, high speed potential, superior riding comfort, aesthetic interiors and lower maintenance – no corrosion owing to stainless steel body. He said the average differential in the cost of manufacture of LHB design coach and the corresponding Integral Coach Factory (ICF) design coach is at present approximately Rs 75 lakh to Rs one crore, but this is expected to reduce significantly with volume production of LHB coaches. Rail Coach Factory, Kapurthala is already a Coach Production Unit of international standards. Projects have also been sanctioned to further upgrade the facilities at Rail Coach Factory there and at Integral Coach Factory, Chennai, to increase production of LHB design coaches, the Minister informed. http://www.newkerala.com/news/2011/worldnews-63614.html Published in: Uncategorized on September 15, 2011 at 4:46 pm Leave a Comment Tags: LHB coaches
Railways plans 4,000 German coaches on track Come 2016, Indian Railways will roll out coaches using German technology. Four coach factories will replace the indigenously-designed carriages with 4,000 Linke Holfmann Bush (LHB) coaches. However, the Indian Railways is not planning to make a complete shift to LHBs on rail tracks, but the Integrated Coach Factory (ICF)-designed old coaches will be phased out once they outlive their life span. Conventional coaches run for 25 years and are prices at Rs 1.5 crore, while LHB AC coaches cost between Rs 2.5 crore and Rs 3 crore, serve about a decade more. According to K K Saxena, general manager, Rail Coach Factory (RCF), Kapurthala, a complete phase-out of conventional coaches and proliferation of LHB coaches would be possible by 2040, if there was no policy change by the government. “The complete switchover from conventional coaches to LHBs is possible when RCF starts rolling out non-AC LHB coaches on a large scale.” indianrlys.wordpress.com/tag/lhb-coaches/
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RCF produces “end-on-generation” air-conditioned LHB coaches. It is also expected to develop a second variant of the power car for non-AC coaches within the next five to six months, which will have commercially useful space on the top. At the bottom, there will be underslung power generation sets of lower capacity suitable for them. Increase in carrying capacity and life cycle of LHB coaches is expected to bring down transportation cost for every kilometre by about 12 -15 per cent, even though production costs of LHB is higher. RCF has invested Rs 114 crore since 2007 for the transition. Another Rs 130 crore has been sanctioned for phase II of the project, which will be invested over a period of 2-3 years, said Saxena. To start with, trains with more than 20 coaches will use LHBs, then it will be extended to mail/express trains apart from Rajdhani, Shatabdi and Duronto. LHB coaches manufactured in RCF in Kapurthala are mostly used in Rajdhani and Shatabdi trains while other mail and express trains are equipped with conventional coaches built at the ICF in Chennai. Increase in carrying capacity and life cycle of LHB coaches is expected to bring down transportation cost for every kilometre by about 12 -15 per cent, even though production costs of LHB is higher. With the optimisation of line capacity, the speed potential can also go up to 200 kilometres an hour from 110 kmph now. “Apart from the economic benefit, LHB coaches offer better safety and do not turn turtle in case of a head-on collision,” said a railway ministry official. A senior ICF official said they have invested Rs 300 crore for 250 coaches since 2009-end. The planned rollout of LHB coaches from RCF in 2011-2012 at 450 has increased almost 77 per cent from the actual production of 257 between 2001 to 2006. The annual production capacity projection for LHB coaches in 2011-2012 from the three factories, including the upcoming one in Raebareli will be 506 but is expected to go up eight-fold in 2016-2017. By then, the Palghat factory is also expected to join the three production units in manufacturing LHB coaches. The Railways acquired the passenger coach manufacturing technology through two separate agreements with Alstom LHB in 1995, one for supply of 24 EOG coaches and the other for transfer of technology to produce the coaches at Indian rail coach facilities. The 24 EOGs were imported at Rs 131.37 crore. http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/railways-plans-4000-german-coachestrack/445027/ Published in: Uncategorized on August 16, 2011 at 1:47 am Leave a Comment Tags: Kapurthala, LHB coaches, LHB German coaches, Linke Holfmann Bush (LHB) coaches., Rail Coach Factory (RCF)
Get ready for more luxurious and safe journey by Rajdhani Express The journey from Bilaspur to New Delhi by Rajdhani Express will soon become more safe and luxurious as the Indian Railways is planning to introduce super air-conditioned coaches. The technically advanced rail coach is to be introduced in all the important Rajdhanis, including Bilaspur- New Delhi Rajdhani Express in the first phase. “Preparations have been going for the introduction of these hi-tech coaches from a long time now. The decision regarding this will be taken at the Railway Board level and then it will be sent to the higher authorities for final approval,” Santosh Kumar, senior spokesperson, Railways, told Bhaskar News. These modern coaches will be manufactured in the Rai Bareilly coach factory. Atleast 25 such rail compartments will be manufactured by the end of this year. Every year 60 super luxury coaches will be produced from this factory. At present, the 3-tier AC coaches of Rajdhani Express have 72 berths and 2-tier bogies have 64 berths. The new super luxury AC coaches will have 55 berths. However, Railway officials declined to comment on when these new coaches will be introduced but they said that the bogies will be seen in the Rajdhani Express in the first phase itself. Rajdhani Express to get advance LHB coaches The new super luxury rail coaches will be built using Linke Holfmann Bush (LHB) technology. These coaches, which will be built using the German technology, will be made of stainless steel. They will have more inbuilt safety and luxury features. They can absorb shock and impact of derailment more effectively, a feature which reduces the loss of live and property in case of accident. Such coaches are already being used in some of the top trains in the country like the Palace on Wheels. http://daily.bhaskar.com/article/MP-RAI-get-ready-for-more-luxurious-and-safe-journey-by-rajdhani-express-2324799.html Published in: Uncategorized on August 11, 2011 at 3:41 pm Leave a Comment Tags: LHB coaches, Linke Holfmann Bush (LHB) technology., luxurious and safe journey by Rajdhani Express
Rlys plans to switch to German coaches by ’16 The railways plans to switch over from indigenous ICF coaches to German technology based Linke Holfmann Bush (LHB) ones in all mail and express trains within the next five years.The LHB coaches, which have fire-retardant quality and advanced couplers, are designed to minimize fire accidents. The move is aimed at infusing more safety measures in train indianrlys.wordpress.com/tag/lhb-coaches/
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operations, with railways expected to enhance production capacity of its coach factories to 2,000 LHB coaches in 2014-15 and another 4,000 in 2016-17. The modern coaches that are made of stainless steel have more in-built safety features, and can absorb shock and impact of derailment more effectively. A senior rail official said, “The sturdy and robust design obviates capsizing of coaches in case of accidents. This helps to minimize damage and reduce the loss of lives.” The casualties in the recent Kalka derailment could have been much less if the train was running on LHB coaches, he said. The state-transporter is planning to introduce LHB coaches in mail and express trains in a phase manner by 2016-17 as they are equipped with fire-retardant material and advanced couplers. Unlike indigenous ICF coaches, which are prone to capsize or climb on each other during a collision, the LHB bogies don’t get toppled. Apart from restricting the speed limit to 105 kmph on mail line and 110 kmph on Rajdhani tracks, ICF coaches raise safety concerns due to a large number of hanging under-gear parts. Though a traditional coach costs Rs 1.5 crore each against a LHB one that comes for Rs 2.5 crore-Rs 3 crore. The modern coaches are more comfortable, have a higher life-span of 35 years against ICF’s 25 years, and also have a 12%-15% higher passenger capacity that can raise revenue.
http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Default/Scripting/ArticleWin.asp? From=Search&Source=Find&Key=CAP/2011/07/24/13/Ar01302.xml&CollName=TOI_DELHI_DAILY_2009&DOCID=575961&Keyword=%28%3Cmany%3E%3Cstem%3Erailway% Published in: Uncategorized on July 24, 2011 at 12:17 pm Leave a Comment Tags: coaches, ICF, LHB coaches, Linke Holfmann Bush (LHB)
Railways starts ushering in Rajdhani-type coaches The Indian Railways is all set to run a rake comprising newly manufactured low-cost stainless steel coaches on the Amritsar-Jaynagar route. The Rail Coach Factory at Kapurthala has rolled out 28 such coaches which will now be used for the Shaheed Express. These coaches are not only similar in appearance to the LHB coaches used in the Rajdhani and Shatabdi trains, they also have superior aesthetics, better ride quality and low maintenance costs. The move is aimed at heralding the era of stainless steel coaches for all mail/express trains. Till now, only the Rajdhani and Shatabdi trains had stainless steel coaches. This 28-coach rake has six variants including a unique composite coach having a mix of AC 2 and AC 3 seating. To bring down costs, the RCF has replaced the Fiat bogies used with LHB coaches with indigenously manufactured bogies. “Earlier, following the transfer of technology from LHB, Germany, we used LHB shells with a Fiat bogey for AC coaches. That coach used to cost around Rs 2 crore. Now, we have used LHB-like stainless steel shells along with a modified ICF-type bogey. That has brought down the cost by 40 per cent,” an RCF official explained. Published in: Uncategorized on June 9, 2009 at 4:48 pm Leave a Comment Tags: AC coaches, LHB coaches, Rajdhani coaches, stainless steel coaches
Railway to manufacture fire proof coaches PATNA: In the wake of growing fire incidents and huge loss to railway property every year, the railways have decided to manufacture fireproof coaches from safety point of view. The Rail Coach Factory (RCF) at Kapurthala in Punjab is manufacturing new fireproof coaches which are likely to replace all outdated and general coaches in future. According to sources, the RCF has of late designed new fireproof coaches to cater to the needs of the railways across the country. The railways have started manufacturing fireproof AC and sleeper coaches based on the technology and design of LHB German coaches. While each AC coach would now cost about Rs 60 lakh, sleeper coach would cost about Rs 40 lakh each. However, the railways are incurring an expenditure of about Rs 1 crore for manufacturing each special AC coach. There has been a marginal escalation in the production cost of these coaches, sources said. Under the new design approved by the railways, the curtain and other fittings inside the AC coaches will be fire resistant. In the event of any fire incident, emission of smoke would be less obnoxious. Superfine stainless steel materials are being used to manufacture these fireproof coaches, a Railway Board official said. A board official admitted that the railways have taken a policy decision to replace the existing ICF Swiss coaches with LHB German coaches to enhance safety measures on running trains. At present, the ECR has the holding capacity of more than 2,500 coaches, including AC and sleeper ones. They need immediate replacement to maintain foolproof safety to railway property and passengers, he said. With the introduction of LHB coaches mostly in Rajdhani Express trains, the railways have initiated steps to further improve safety measures on running trains, particularly in the long distance trains. The newly-designed coaches are light in weight and have the running speed limit up to 130 kmph to 140 kmph on the existing track condition, sources said. The railways have already adopted modernisation process to ensure safety to passengers during their journey. That apart, the new fireproof coaches have the riding comforts as well. A team of technical experts of the railways have been keeping a tab on the quality of new coach production, the Railway Board official added. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Patna/Rlys-to-manufacture-fireproof-coaches/articleshow/4536734.cms Published in: Uncategorized indianrlys.wordpress.com/tag/lhb-coaches/
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on May 18, 2009 at 4:56 pm Leave a Comment Tags: fireproof coaches, LHB coaches, Rail Coach Factory, Railway Board
Travel in style on Shatabdi exp CHENNAI: The Southern Railway is all set to redefine luxury and passenger comfort in Shatabdi through introducing LHB German design coaches. Very soon the ChennaiBangalore- Mysore Shatabadi will don a new look with these coaches. “The LHB coaches, compared to the current air-conditioned sleeper or chair car rakes, are more comfortable with new amenities,” said an official with the southern railway. “This new generation passenger coaches focus on passenger comfort, safety and operation and life cycle costs. These coaches will be longer but lighter and will be maintenance friendly. It also has an aesthetic appeal,” added the official. The sophisticated LHB coaches — named after three engineers Linke, Hoffman and Bosch are developed at Rail Coach Factory, Kapurthala, in association with Germany’s Alstom Group. Though the southern railway has not yet officially announced the date of introducing the new coaches, highly placed officials clarified that it would be inducted into the service of the southern railway in a month’s time. It is pointed out that the facilities in the train include an improved ride comfort-ride index reduced to 2.5 at 160 km per hour. Anti drumming feature and sound insulation giving a good noise reduction; functional toilets, which allow easy and good cleaning; optimised design of pantry with functional trolley. It also has comfortable seats with infinitely adjustable back seats; windows of big sizes allowing good visibility with functional roller blinds; luggage racks of modern design with integrated lamps for all seats. To ensure safety in the LHB coaches have modern design of vestibule for inter car connection; anti-climbing feature to prevent climbing off during collision; improved brake system with wheel slide protection; use of fire code for materials following state-of- art practices; four emergency windows are provided per coach; increased coach length to provide extra carrying capacity (AC chair car carries 78 passengers against 67 in existing design); coach weight reduced through design innovations for lower hauling costs (AC chair car weight brought down by around 5 tonne); ease of manufacture by suitable material selection and design; anti-corrosive materials to give better corrosion protection; toilets designed for discharge at predetermined speeds to help station cleanliness; improved availability through longer intervals between maintenance schedules; enhanced maintenance friendliness through easy accessibility and exchangeability of wearing parts; entrance doors flush with side wall allowing automatic car washing, functional switch board cabinet centrally located and easily accessible electrical equipment; closed roof mounted air conditioning units eliminating incidence of water dripping into the coach; glued PVC floor which allows no floor damage through water seepage; the coaches have been provided with Tight Lock Center Buffer couplers and shall be culpable with AAR type coupler fitted on locomotives.
http://www.expressbuzz.com/edition/story.aspx? Title=Soon,+travel+in+style+on+Shatabdi+exp&artid=mdJdX584ohM=&SectionID=lifojHIWDUU=&MainSectionID=lifojHIWDUU=&SEO=LHB+German+design+coaches&SectionName Published in: Uncategorized on April 11, 2009 at 3:56 pm Leave a Comment Tags: Chennai-Bangalore- Mysore Shatabadi, LHB coaches, LHB German design coaches, Shatabdi Express, southern railway
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