Diesel loco falls on its side

Railway engine fell down in the repair shed and was totally damaged at Gooty in Anantapur District on Monday. Photo: R.V.S. Prasad

A diesel locomotive engine which turned up for annual maintenance at the Gooty diesel loco shed fell on its side on Monday while being moved.

The diesel locomotive engine, bearing the number 13086WDG3A and belonging to the Gooty shed, was taken up into the bay and placed ready for its annual M24 maintenance schedule, wherein the front and back wheel sections (known in technical parlance as trucks) of the locomotive were removed and dummy wheel sections fitted before extensive maintenance work was undertaken.

The front and back wheel sections were removed after having lifted up the locomotive to an appropriate height using jacks. However when the loco was being lowered on to its dummy wheel sections, jacks on one side of the locomotive failed, apparently, causing the loco to fall on its left side.

Speaking to The Hindu , the senior Divisional Mechanical Engineer (Sr DME) S. Sreenivasulu, said that the damage to the locomotive would be minimal if any, while adding that a few wooden structures were crushed during the fall besides the obvious loss of man hours in getting the locomotive back for service.

Loss

Sources told The Hindu that the loss could be evaluated only after the locomotive is back on its wheel sections. Meanwhile, the locomotive is still lying in its side with salvaging operations planned for early Monday. Each of these diesel locomotive engines was estimated to be worth several crores of rupees.