SCR to make key machines for railways
Hyderabad: South Central Railway (SCR) has taken one more crucial step in its efforts to take forward the initiative of ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’ and ‘Make in India’ concept, with the Signal and Telecommunications (S&T) workshop at Mettuguda by achieving in-house capacity in manufacturing point machines, the equipment needed for a smooth transition of trains from one track to the other.
The workshop has received approval for manufacturing and supplying point machines (of 143 mm and 220 mm). Considering the widespread usage of point Machines in railways, this is a major feat towards the self-sustainability by the railway production units, a press release said.
The point machines play a vital role in providing a safe mechanism for changing the operation of train movement from one line to another, by securely locking the relevant necessary points, duly ensuring the least vibrations for the trains.
Earlier, point machines were being manufactured at only two locations of Indian Railways while the rest were being manufactured by private agencies. The Mettuguda S&T workshop has become only the third unit in Indian Railways with the capability to produce and supply point machines, which will make the instruments available easily and cheaper.
The new capability of the workshop will also lead to less dependence on external agencies. It will also speed up the efforts to raise the speed of tracks, as the point machine – 220mm comes along with clamp lock providing additional safety for trains to operate at higher permissible speeds.
The Mettuguda workshop has a capacity to manufacture 3,250 numbers per year with each of the point machines of 143mm and 220mm. The production from this unit will be able to cater for the requirement of SCR, besides supplying to other Zones. The lifetime of point machines as per the route is normally 12 years or 3,00,000 operations, after which the replacement is inevitable.
Gajanan Mallya, GM, SCR appreciated the officers and staff of S & T Workshop, Mettuguda and other SCR officials who have been actively involved in developing the manufacturing unit with the in-house resources.
He also stated that these indigenously designed point machines by S&T Workshop, Mettuguda reflects the commitment of the SCR zone towards encouraging the Make in India concept duly evolving to self – sustainability.
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