Hyderabad: SCR plans 3 top depots for Vande Bharat upkeep

Hyderabad : The South Central Railways zone has decided to set up three modern maintenance depots for Vande Bharat trains after it garnered immense popularity among the rail passengers. In a bid to provide top-notch maintenance for these semi-high speed trains, SCR has proposed to develop three modern maintenance depots.

According to officials one depot will be at Tellapur, second at the upcoming fourth passenger terminal at Cherlapally and another at Tirupati. About Rs 10 crore has been allocated for the maintenance of the VB trains in the recent interim budget. Currently, Primary Maintenance is being carried out at Secunderabad and Kacheguda Coaching Yards, while Other End Maintenance is being carried out at Vijayawada and Tirupati.In addition, another line in Hyderabad (Nampally) Coaching Yard is also being provided with over head equipment( OHE) facility for having capability to undertake maintenance activity in case of any need.

“The very first Vande Bharat Express train(Visakhapatnam – Secunderabad – Visakhapatnam) started its commercial operation from January last year which has primary maintenance Visakhapatnam and the other end maintenance is at Secunderabad station. Second VB Express (Secunderabad Tirupati) and primary maintenance is taken place at Secunderabad and other end maintenance at Tirupati. Third Vande Bharat Express Secunderabad- Yeshwantpur and its primary maintenance is at Kacheguda and other end maintenance is attended to at Yeshwantpur. Similarly the Fourth Vande Bharat Express(Chennai- Vijayawada) the primary maintenance at Chennai Central and other end maintenance is attended at Vijayawada. A fifth VB Express ( Mumbai- Jalna) , primary maintenance takes place at Mumbai and other end maintenance at Mumbai.Along with these three proposed depots , even primary maintenance is coming up at Jalna,” said senior officer .

Stretching on procedure of Maintenance, officer stated. These three modern depot will be have facility encompasses a heavy repair shed, an EOT crane for coach lifting, and a dedicated washing line. Once the proposed depots get approve from Railways then constructions works would stat very soon. Generally two types of maintenance activity are done on Vande Bharat Express Trains which includes daily examination that is been carried out for four hours daily at Secunderabad and Kacheguda and weekly maintenance is being carried out once in a week. Staff have been sent to various places like Integral Coach Factory, Chennai; Mumbai Coaching Yard, Shakurbasti Train Depot, etc for getting training to handle Vande Bharat Express Trains maintenance activities.