The 85-year-old Golden Rock Railway Workshop here crossed yet another milestone when it successfully carried out periodic overhaul of a LHB (Linke Hofmann Busch) passenger coach for the first time in its chequered history.
The workshop, which has been regularly carrying out periodic overhaul of passenger coaches designed by the Integral Coach Factory, Chennai all these years, was given one LHB coach as a pilot project last month. The coach was sent from the Madurai railway division.
The new generation LHB coaches which are superior in quality and provide better ride comfort are slightly longer than the conventional ICF designed coaches. The LHB coaches have more safety features and have lesser corrosion and maintenance requirements as compared to ICF-desgined coaches.
The workshop which has been the centre of excellence in quality of coach maintenance was sent one LHB coach for periodic maintenance prior to carrying out such activity on a mass scale in the near future. These coaches required periodic maintenance once in three years. As part of the maintenance work, special focus was given to bogie repair where the air brake system and wheel slide protection was overhauled.
All components of the coach were thoroughly checked for any damage and rectified. Interior fittings such as berths, snack trays and other items relating to passenger amenities were also checked and renewed. The fittings in the lavatories and all electrical equipments were also tested. The entire coach was cleaned thorougly before dispatching it for regular operation once again.
"This is the first time that the workshop was carrying out periodic overhaul of an LHB coach", said P.N. Jha, the Chief Workshop Manager. Mr. Jha flagged off the first overhauled LHB coach at the workshop premises on Monday in the presence of officials and employees.
Ahead of carrying out this activity, the workshop had already turned out 30 LHB bogies during the current fiscal. Mr. Jha said new infrastructure facilities would be put in place at the workshop exclusively for maintenance of LHB coaches in one-and-half years. The workshop would take up maintenance of one or two LHB coaches every month and this figure would gradually rise once more LHB coaches were inducted for operation, he added.
LHB coaches are being used for several express trains including the Tiruchi - Chennai- Tiruchi Rockfort expresses and the Madurai - Chennai - Madurai Pandyan expresses. Set up during the colonial era, the workshop currently overhauls more than 1,000 passenger coaches and over 120 broad gauge diesel locomotives every year besides, manufacturing container wagons for the Container Corporation of India and oil-fired steam locomotives for the Nilgiri Mountain Railway.
