The East Coast Railway (ECoR) Thursday said it has decided to install automatic coach washing plants at Puri and Visakhapatnam Coach Maintenance Depots.
It is expected that less fresh water would be consumed to clean exterior part of the coaches after installation of these plants, compared to what is being used now, an ECoR statement said here.
Rakes would be cleaned in around 20 minutes while they would pass through along a specified track in the coach maintenance depot. At present, cleaning is done when they are in stationary position.
A detergent compatible with the body and paint of the coach will be used for washing in the automatic plants.
For installation of the plants, orders have been placed with the Central Organisation for Modernisation of Workshops (COFMOW), New Delhi, an autonomous body under Ministry of Railways, the statement said.
The estimated cost of each automatic coach washing plant is around Rs 2 crore and the two plants could start functioning by December this year.
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There will be an effluent treatment plant to treat water for repeated use, thereby conserving precious water. Ultrasonic devices, photoelectric cells and a number of sensors would be provided in the set up, the statement said.
Similar plants are being processed at Bhubaneswar and MEMU Shed at Khurda Road in Odisha.