The entire refurbishment will cost Rs.50 lakh
Mumbai : For next three months, workers at the Mahalaxmi workshop will toil to repair the ill-fated pilot (motor) coach of the Bhayandar fast local that rammed into the buffer of platform number three at Churchgate station last month. However, the coach will not be handed over to the Western Railway authorities before December later this year.
It is after July 2006 bomb blast that a coach with extensive damage of this nature has been sent to the workshop for repair.
The collision was so strong that the train not only climbed above the buffers but also climbed on the platform too. But the driver’s desk which contains all the electronic controls were most severely damaged. The motorman’s cabin will be
remade by first cutting and removing the damaged portion in the work shop. It will then be sent to a manufacturing shop for fabrication of the steel work which will be welded on the train.
The frame, at the bottom of the coach which is the basic structure on which the outer portion of the coach rests has been damaged and has to be replaced. The batteries of the coaches will be replaced and there will a new braking system.
The entire refurbishment will cost Rs.50 lakh.
Divisional Railway Manager of Western Railway, Shailendra Kumar said, “We have sent the damaged coach for repair to our workshop in Mahalaxmi and it will be inducted as soon as it is fit to operate.”
Another official monitoring the repair of the coach said, “Finally it will be fitted with lookout glasses, buffers, wipers and cattle guard. Some of the seating arrangement with in the coach will also have to be replaced.”
In the meanwhile to make for the loss of this coach, Western Railway has borrowed another motor coach working on Alternating Current (AC) from Central Railway. “We have taken the coach from CR for a period of three months. The work on the repair of this coach will begin from August end and is likely to be completed by December after which it will be inducted in to normal services.”
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repairs that need to be done
l Front Sheet
l Driver’s Desk which include all electrical equipments of the drivers
l Cabling of the motorman’s cab
l Pipeline for braking system
l Motor coach mounted on sole bar
l Cutting and removing
l Fabrication and shedding work in manufacture shop
l Assemble and Welding
l Passenger furnishing items like side parting and seats
l Look out glass
l Buffers
l Wiper
l Cattle Guard
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Iram Siddique
