Southern States - Andhra Pradesh   

Carriage repair workshop blazes a new trail

By A. D. Rangarajan

TIRUPATI Nov. 11. What the `Railway' means to the common man is just bogies, track, platform, stationmaster, TTE, guard and so on. Though they indeed encompass most part of it, the crucial aspect that does not attract his attentions is the `repair and renovation part', which caters to the core areas of safety and passenger comfort.

Of the 54 workshops in the country under the Indian Railway, the Carriage Repair Shop (CRS) at Tirupati has set a new trend in more ways than one and the practices being followed by it qualify for emulation.

The ISO-certified workshop, located in the suburban Settipalle on a sprawling 72-hectare plot near the Railway junction of Renigunta, has been built on a 36,000 sq m area. The spacious complex, the airy work floor and the ergonomically laid out machinery provide proper ambience to workers.

While the foundation stone for it was laid in 1980 by the then President, Neelam Sanjeeva Reddy, the workshop was ready in 1985 with a built-in capacity to handle Periodical Overhaul (POH) of 100 coaches a month.

The fact that a bogie is never used after it has been on the track for 12 successive months reveals the significance of a workshop. The 2,200 bogies in the South Central Railway are taken off the track every year and sent for POH either to the Lalaguda workshop in Secunderabad or the Tirupati CRS.

At a conducted tour to the CRS, Rajkamal Rao, Chief Workshop Engineer, SCR, Secunderabad, explained that the core activity of the CRS included POH of BG coaches, repair and return of wheel sets to divisions, chemical and metallurgical testing of components and training of staff.

Mediapersons were taken around the workshop that is sub-divided into eight units. While the job work is identified at the incoming shop and the overhauled train is marked for outturn at the outgoing shop, the other units look after carriage fitting, wheels, corrosion, carriage body repair, paint and train lighting. Adoption of appropriate technology is worth a mention. Two traversers are in use to physically transport bogies between work floors, which a crane cannot do. A wheel lathe, costing Rs.2.83 crores, is used to cut the huge steel wheels to size, eliminate mismatch, often caused due to wear and tear.

Though 58 coaches a month are being handled now against the installed capacity of 100, Mr. Rao sought to explain that it did not mean `under-utilisation of capacity' as factors like less manpower and change in technology are involved. The current product mix is such that the POH is taken up for 58 BG coaches, including two A/C coaches a month. The centre also takes up renovation of old coaches into car carriers, maintenance crew vans and accident relief vans. It is also involved in the conversion of vacuum brake coaches to bogie-mounted air brake coaches.

The CRS, with an annual budget of Rs.25 crores, has set a precedent by ensuring that the overhaul of roller-bearing wheel sets are failure-free and by paying maximum attention to aluminium water tanks.

Adhering to the maximum limit vis-a-vis safety standards, Mr. Rao noted that the bogie springs were shot blasted, load tested and magnaflux tested. "When the work on a bogie is over, it is certified by a neutral examiner, under the control of the Railway Board, without whose consent a bogie can never be brought out on the track.''

The incentive scheme introduced last year showed a spurt in performance by half, taking the monthly bogie outturn from 40 to 60. Better management practices also sunk in, as evident from the rise in attendance and slash in unit cost. The cost incurred in the overhaul of a bogie came down from Rs.1,04,664 in 1998-99 to Rs.88,520 now. In fact, the centre has surpassed the national average in the turnout of sick coaches (bogies becoming defunct within 100 days of POH).

The centre envisages an increase in the outturn of bogies from the present 696 to 1,020 in two years. Stainless steel trough floor and pipeline would replace the iron equipment soon in all the bogies in the SCR purview.

The campus has a huge staff quarters to house 421 families, a health unit, a post office, a Kendriya Bhandar, a canteen and even a Kendriya Vidyalaya. The women's welfare organisation of the CRS runs a handicraft centre, a creche and a tiny tots school. Sports and cultural events are conducted for employees and their families, says Mr. Rao.

The CRS Manager, Prasada Rao, the Chief PRO, N.V. Ramana Reddy, and the PRO, F.R. Michael, were part of the Railway team.

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