The 93-year-old Golden Rock Railway Workshop here has for the first time overhauled a LHB Power Car in Southern Railway.
Both diesel generator sets of the power car were overhauled and thorough attention was given to electrical equipment, mechanical rolling components and air conditioning system. Load testing was also done successfully and complete renewal of flooring in the luggage portion was carried out. Full renewal of upholsteries and polyurethane painting of the coach exterior was done to give an aesthetic to the power car that was turned out of the workshop.
Principal Chief Mechanical Engineer, Southern Railway, T. Venkatasubramanian flagged off the first fully overhauled LHB power car at the workshop premises on Thursday in the presence of the Chief Workshop Manager Shyamadhar Ram, officers, supervisors and staff.
A press release from the workshop said it had bagged orders for overhauling all 134 LHB Power Cars available in the Southern Railway circuit in the next few years. It would be a boon for the Diesel Periodical Overhauling shop which was losing its major chunk of workload due to electrification of the railway network in the country. Mr. Venkatasubramanian also flagged off the 300th and 301st wagons for the railways on the occasion.
To augment productivity, the workshop has introduced a rotary fixture for drilling holes in three sides of the centre sill of a wagon which drastically reduced production time as well as usage of cranes for turning two other sides of centre sill. Infrastructure at the workshop was kept in a state of preparedness for undertaking overhauling of electric locomotives of Southern Railway and was awaiting the arrival of the first locomotive shortly.
The release further said Mr. Venkatasubramanian during his inspection of the workshop also saw the innovative efforts taken in production and overhauling processes. He inaugurated an IoT based energy management system in the workshop covering several work stations for improvised micro level monitoring of energy centres. Several gadgets and fixtures were also introduced in bogie overhauling, air springs and air brake testing areas.
