Visakhapatnam: Coach cleaning soon to go automatic

Visakhapatnam: Rail users can now board a much-cleaner coach in Visakhapatnam as an Automatic Coach Washing Plant (ACWP) will soon get operational in Waltair Division.

From spraying liquid soaps to brushing, the cleaning process can be done in a jiffy as the plant uses mammoth brushes for the purpose.

Adopting methods to conserve water and reducing the manual drudgery involved, the ACWP, comprising a control room to operate and monitor the plant, is getting readied at Kancharapalem. With more than half of the plant installation work being completed, the facility aids in enabling the Indian railways to save water as well as time for cleaning the coaches per day.

There are multiple advantages of the washing plant. One, it saves time. Two, it requires less water to clean a coach in comparison to the manual washing. Three, less drudgery is involved. Four, improves efficiency in the cleaning process.

As the train chugs forward at a snail's pace in the maintenance pit line, the cleaning process will be executed at the plant. Since the water gets dispersed through sprinkler-model channels, it aids in conserving a substantial amount of water used to wash a coach.

Terming it as a big step towards conservation of resources, Divisional Railway Manager, Waltair Division, Chetan Kumar Shrivastava said, "The total quantity of water consumed for cleaning 240 coaches manually a day takes 180 kilo litres of water. However, using the Automatic Coach Washing Plant, it will come down to 108 kilo litres." Further, the DRM told The Hans India that the plant would be operational by January.

As there are over a dozen workers involved in the present manual coach cleaning process, including a few out-sourced staff, the hours of drudgery involved in the washing process at times affect the quality of maintenance. The ACWP aims at carrying out the entire exercise with improved efficiency.