WHAT ARE "ICF" AND "LHB" COACHES?

ICF और LHB कोचेज क्या है?

ICF coaches

ICF stands for "Integral Coach Factory" which is one of the railways' main coach production plants. The Integral Coach Factory is located in Perambur near Chennai.

The ICF design refers to the conventional design of coaches seen across trains in India - indeed, of the many trains in the header images on my site. Here are a few pictures of ICF design coaches:

LHB coaches

In 1999, the railways imported a set of coaches from Linke-Hoffman-Busch (Now a part of Alstom) for testing and use in India. After a few glitches, they slowly began to gain popularity. Today, LHB coaches are manufactured by the Rail Coach Factory (Kapurthala) under a Transfer of Technology agreement.

LHB coaches are characterised by a sleeker finish than ICF coaches, better suspension, sound reduction and ride quality, not to mention significantly larger windows that lack the heavy tinting seen in the most ICF AC coaches. They are also safer than ICF coaches in the event of an accident or collision. LHB coaches are longer than ICF coaches, and seat layouts in LHB and ICF coaches differ.

Here are some (not very good!) picture of LHB coaches.





A comparison

There is very little to compare between the two in terms of passenger experience; LHB coaches are miles ahead. Compare the following:

(a) A conventional ICF AC Chair coach and an LHB AC Chair coach:







(b) The corridor of an ICF First AC Sleeper coach and its LHB equivalent:






Which trains have LHB coaches?

After seeing these pictures, you might want to travel by a train that has LHB coaches. However, not too many trains operate with LHB coaches at the moment. Here is a list (not comprehensive) of trains that are LHB:

This list starts with Shatabdi Expresses, followed by Jan Shatabdi Expresses, Rajdhani Expresses, Duronto Expresses, Double Decker Expresses, ending with regular Mail/Express trains that run with LHB coaches. Special trains and seasonal trains are not included in this list.

To state the obvious, every train runs both ways - i.e, the Bhopal Shatabdi runs between Bhopal and New Delhi as well as New Delhi - Bhopal!

Note: This list does not include temporary, special or premium special trains.

This train operates with IRY-20 coaches, which are slightly different from LHB coaches.

# While AC Double Decker trains operate with LHB coaches, their seats are non-reclining; legroom between seats is less than regular trains, which makes them a less comfortable option than AC Chair Car on a regular train.