Bhubaneswar: Automatic coach washing plant, which will clean up an empty train rake in 20 mts using less fresh water, will be installed at Puri and Visakhapatnam coach maintenance depot under East Coast Railways.
Each automatic plant will entail an investment of Rs 2 crore, the orders for which have already been placed with (Central Organisation for Modernization Of Workshops) COFMOW, ECoRly said in a statement. Tenders have been finalised by COFMOW and it is expected that the plant would be set up at Puri latest by December 2019, it said, adding similar position expected for Visakhapatnam also.
Coach washing plants at Bhubaneswar and in the MEMU Shed at Khurda Road are also being planned.
The plants will ensure less use of fresh water in cleaning the coach exteriors. The coaches will be cleaned as they pass through a nominated track in the coach depot. Huge brush on either side will clean the coach as the train passes through the plant at snails pace. At present, the coaches are cleaned mechanically in static positions.
“A suitable alkaline detergent compatible with the body and paint of the coach will be used for washing.
There will an effluent treatment plan which will treat the water for its repeated use, thereby conserving the precious water,” the ECoRly statement said. It is expected that each empty train rake would be cleaned in about 20 Minutes time, it added.
