The Indian Railways is already manufacturing certain types of Passenger coaches and Wagons with Stainless steel material. The details are as follows:
- MAINLINE COACHING STOCK
Stainless steel material is used for the manufacture of Linke Hofmann Busch (LHB) type of coaches, as against Corten steel for ICF (Integral Coach Factory) type of coaches. The carrying capacity of an LHB coach is generally more by about 10% as compared to an ICF type coach. Inspite of the increased carrying capacity, the weight of most variants of LHB type coaches is marginally lesser as compared to that of the corresponding ICF type coach.
- SUBURBAN COACHING STOCK
Stainless Steel is used for manufacturing new generation EMU (Electric Multiple Unit) and DEMU (Diesel Electric Multiple Unit) coaches. There is only a marginal difference in the weight and carrying capacity of these coaches as compared to similar coaches manufactured with Corten steel. The new generation coaches would, however, have a longer life.
iii. WAGONS
The use of Stainless steel in BOXNHL type of open wagons has led to a weight reduction of about 2.5 tonnes and increase in carrying capacity of about 3 tonnes with respect to the earlier BOXN wagons.
A specification for Aluminium body coaches which shall be even lighter than Stainless steel body coaches has been developed by the Research Designs and Standards Organization (RDSO) / Lucknow.