CHENNAI: With the conventional ICF coaches being replaced with Linke Hofmann Busch (LHB) coaches, the Southern Railway has set up a dedicated shed for Periodical Overhauling (POH) of LHB coaches at Perambur carriage workshop in Chennai. The 165-year-old premier workshop of the Indian Railways, which so far performed POH for ICF coaches, will now take up the critical maintenance task for LHB coaches on a large scale, said official sources. The new facility has been commissioned at Rs 30 crore and became functional recently.
Periodic overhauling of train coaches is pivotal for safe operation of trains. Each LHB coach undergoes POH every 18 months. The Southern Railway holds as many as 6,740 coaches, of which 1,350 are LHB and 4,866 are ICF coaches.
“The upgradation works have enhanced the capacity of Perambur workshop to handle 16 LHB coaches at a time. The average turnout time is 14 to 16 days for non-AC coaches, and 20 to 22 days for AC coaches. The facility will ensure that maintenance of coaches is completed as per the schedule,” said a senior railway official.
The railways halted the production of ICF coaches a few years ago and coach manufacturing units at RCF (Kapurthala), ICF (Chennai) and MCF (Raebareli) are manufacturing LHB coaches presently. All the ICF coaches are planned to be phased out. There are 42 mechanical workshops, spread across 16 zones in Indian Railways, to carry out periodic overhauling of diesel and electrical locos, coaches, wagons and Electrical Multiple Units (EMUs).
LHB rakes have been inducted in Southern Railway since February 2016. The new shed is equipped with three spacious bays for handling LHB coaches, besides modern facilities such as epoxy flooring, electric overhead travelling cranes and four tracks for movement of coaches.
Blasting machine
An airless centrifugal shot blasting machine worth Rs 1.15 crore has also been installed at the workshop. The machine will effectively cleanse bogie frames and their components so as to remove all visible rust