24-coach train cleaned in six mins at Mysuru station

By NT Correspondent

Mysuru: Sanjeev Kishore, General Manager, South Western Railway, Hubballi, inspected the Central Workshop at Ashokapuram on Monday as part of the statutory annual inspection.

With the fleet of Linke Hofmann Busch (LHB) coaches increasing in Indian Railways, the Central Workshop has a vital role to play in the periodical overhauling of these coaches which have improved safety features, greater riding comfort and more aesthetic appeal leading to enhanced passenger satisfaction. He inspected the LHB spring shop, carriage lift shop and wheel shop, and also inaugurated the newly installed state-of-the-art plasma cutting machine.

Later, Kishore inaugurated the automatic coach washing plant and the augmented facilities at the coaching depot in Mysuru station yard. He said that with the commissioning of the automatic coach washing plant a new benchmark has been set in faster and more efficient cleaning of coaches. The automatic coach washing plant is a multistage external cleaning system for coaches in rakes, using a detergent solution, high-pressure water jet and vertical rotating brushes. In addition, it has an Effluent Treatment System and water softening plants for use of soft water for external washing. This system will replace the current practice of cleaning rakes by manual application of chemicals and by using high-pressure jets, which is time-consuming, labour- intensive and water-guzzling.

The time taken to clean a 24-coach train is 5-6 minutes at a speed of 5-8 kmph (4-5 coaches per minute) in comparison to the manual practice which runs into over 180 minutes.

U.Subba Rao, Principal Chief Mechanical Engineer, South Western Railways, Hubballi, Rahul Agarwal, Divisional Railway Manager, South Western Railway, Mysuru Division and senior officials of Mysuru Division were present at the inauguration.