Complaints of coaches running out of water in long-distance trains operating through Mangaluru Junction Railway Station in Palakkad division of Southern Railway may be a thing of the past as a facility for Quick Watering of Coaches is expected to be commissioned in a couple of months.
The facility, monitored and handled electronically with pre-programming, ensures that water is pumped with equal pressure in all the coaches of a train rake. Senior railway officials expect a reduction in complaints of coach tanks getting partially filled.
Similar coach watering facility are available in Shoranur further south (309 km) and in Madgaon to the north (313 km).
Mangaluru Junction (MAJN), which has three platforms, is a prominent station on the west coast of India. MAJN handles about 85 trains of different kinds — Rajdhani, Doronto, Garib Rath, Superfast, Mail and Express, Humsafar, AC Superfast — with different frequencies — daily, weekly, bi-weekly. On an average, about 40 trains get watered at MAJN.
Under the existing system, when a 20-coach train arrives in MAJN for watering, hoses are fixed one by one to each coach with valves being opened thereafter. Water flows into the coaches from an overhead tank by gravity. As a result, the water pressure is different for each coach, resulting in non-uniform filling of tanks.
Catering to the unique requirement of each train
Quick watering facility would mean the installation of an electronically controlled pump on every platform. The pump is pre-programmed and has the ability to assess the requirement of each train passing through the station.
For example, a train leaving Madgaon late in the night may not need much water at MAJN compared to a train leaving that station early in the morning.
Officials would analyse the requirement of each train and programme the equipment accordingly. When the valves of the hoses are opened to fill coach tanks, water would flow with uniform pressure to every tank, thereby ensuring uniform filling of tanks, an official explained.
Saving of time, water
Traditional hose valves would be replaced by steel ball valves, reducing water wastage. The new system thus reduces water wastage, and promotes better water management.
The time taken for filling water in a train, gets reduced to 5-10 minutes from 15-20 minutes at present. This could be utilised to speed up the trains, the official said.
During the Independence Day address on August 15 in Palakkad, Palakkad Divisional Railway Manager R. Mukund said the facility would be commissioned in Mangaluru Junction by October.
