Nalanda coach workshop to begin operation after nine-year delay

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An Indian Railways coach maintenance factory which was due to open at Harnut, Nalanda in Bihar almost nine years ago will become operational next month.

The workshop was first planned in 2003 when the chief minister of Bihar, Nitish Kumar, was the Railway Minister.

Now, almost nine years since the foundation stone was laid down by the then President of India, Dr A P J Abdul Kalam, the workshop is preparing to open its doors.

Developed with an investment of $60.6 million, it has 18 modern repair workshops and will be one of the most advanced coach factories in the country with the double-stacked coach maintenance technology to carry out periodical overhauling of coaches.

“Railways have installed a few machines, including bogie testing machine, surface wheel lathe, plasma profile cutting and other essential plants required for the smooth functioning of the workshop,” an East Central Railway (ECR) official said.

The GPT Infrastructure Ltd, which has been assigned the task of completing the civil work of the project, has already completed the first phase of work and handed over to railways five sheds for installing machines and plants. The sheet metal shop, bogie store shop, wheel axle shop and bogie repair shop have been completed in the first phase, the CPRO added.

The workshop has a capacity to repair 50 coaches per month. The factory has already started production through its carriage repair shop and has manpower strength of 1,200, including officers and technical staff.

“The intermediary overhauling block and periodical overhauling has been made functional. In the first phase, repair of non air conditioned (AC) coaches will be taken up. After augmentation, we will also take up maintenance of the AC coaches,” another ECR official said.

The Harnaut workshop has been built on 115 acres of land, which includes 78 acres for workshop and 37 acres for staff quarters.

The East Central Railway is one of the biggest zones of the Indian Railways, comprising five divisions, namely, Danapur, Mughalsarai, Dhanbad, Sonepur and Samastipur. It has more than 3,500 passenger coach holding capacity. The old coaches of the ECR were being sent to Liluah in West Bengal for repairs. As per the rules, each coach needs repair after 18 months of running.

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