Emission Testing Coach Commissioned At Integral Coach Factory

Indian Railways, took the first stride towards framing emission standards for diesel locomotives with the commissioning of an Emission Test Car (ETC) at the Integral Coach Factory (ICF) Chennai. The ETC, said to be the world's first mobile emission testing vehicle in the rail sector, will put the Indian Railways. 

It will conduct  test locos for oxides of nitrogen, particulate matter, total hydrocarbons, methane hydrocarbons, smoke opacity, carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide. Sanjiv Handa, Member (Mechanical), Railway Board, commissioned the ETC at ICF. 

The `8.63 crore mobile ETC can be moved to diesel sheds and coaching depots to measure emission levels of diesel locomotives. Abhay K. Khanna, ICF General Manager, said the ICF was increasingly integrating technology in its production lines for projects such as double-decker coaches and redesign of second class coaches to improve passenger comfort, operational cost and raising speed of trains. 

The ICF also planned to scale up its capacity to 1,700 coaches from 1,500 coaches this year, complete a high speed bogie production facility by June 2013 and stainless steel shell manufacturing facilities by March 2014, Mr. Khanna said. 

India joined the list of countries that have laid down emission standards for railroad applications by launching the country’s first emission testing car (ETC) for rail engines at the Integral Coach Factory (ICF).The ETC will help analyse the performance of the engines besides improving their fuel efficiency and reduce environmental pollution, Mr Abhay K. Khanna, added. 

This is the first-of-its kind emission test car (ETC) by Indian Railways to test emission levels of diesel locomotives at maintenance and manufacturing depots across the country. Built at the Integral Coach Factory (ICF) at Perambur in Tamilnadu state, the country's first ETC uses mass emission measuring equipment built in Japan. Vikram Chopra, Managing Director, Centre for Railway Information Systems and Vijay Meshram, Controller of Stores, were present at the launch function.