An electric locomotive trip shed has been established at Tiruchi railway junction to carry out maintenance of electric engines hauling passenger and freight trains.
Two electric locomotives could be accommodated in the trip shed which has pit lines for under gear safety examination of the engines. Overhead electrification line isolation arrangement has been provided at the shed to enable roof examination of the electric locos.
Roof equipment of electric loco such as pantograph and circuit breakers would also be examined at the trip shed. Electric locos hauling passenger trains after travelling 2,500 kilometres of engine kilometre (EKM) would be sent to the trip shed for maintenance during which its safety features, circuit, operation, lubrication level among others would be checked before being sent back for regular operations.
General maintenance, working of electrical and pneumatic equipment of the loco would also be examined. Lubricants would be filled in the under gear equipment as part of the maintenance. The trip shed would only carry out minor repairs in the electric locos, while major repairs are done at the electric loco sheds at Arakkonam and Erode.
Electric trip sheds are already functioning at Basin Bridge, Erode, Ernakulam and Thiruvananthapuram in Southern Railway jurisdiction. The trip shed at Tiruchi is the first one to be set up in the Chennai Egmore –Nagercoil broad gauge section to take care of the maintenance electric engines being operated in this section, top railway officials said.
The shed has been established by the Central Organisation for Railway Electrification as part of the Villupuram – Tiruchi electrification work. Apart from the trip shed, a tower wagon shed has also been constructed at Tiruchi for the maintenance of tower wagon cars.
The tower wagon cars are self propelled vehicle used for maintenance of electrical lines and for speedy restoration of electrical lines during break down. The trip and tower wagon sheds have been constructed at a cost of Rs. 90 lakhs.
