Golden Rock Railway Workshop in Tiruchi gets fresh order to convert 100 old passenger coaches into automobile carriers

The Golden Rock Railway Workshop in Ponmalai in Tiruchi, has been entrusted with the task of converting 100 old ICF passenger coaches, into automobile carriers.

The Golden Rock Railway Workshop in Ponmalai in Tiruchi, has been entrusted with the task of converting 100 old ICF passenger coaches, into automobile carriers.

The 95-year-old workshop has received a fresh order from the Railway Board, New Delhi to converting old passenger coaches, which have completed their “codal life” of 20 or 25 years, into automobile carriers. 

This is the third such order: the workshop had received two orders last year for the conversion of 176 old coaches into automobile carriers. They were all successfully completed in the span of one year.  The 176th converted coach was flagged off at the workshop on Thursday, August 10, 2023.

The conversion work on the new order has now commenced at the workshop, and plans are afoot to complete the task and dispatch all the 100 automobile carriers before March 2024, a senior workshop official said.

The old coaches belong to the Southern Railway zone. The official said a slew of modifications were made in the coaches. All the seats are removed, provisions are made for sliding doors in each converted coach for easier loading and unloading of automobiles, a double stack arrangement to maximise loading of two-wheelers inside is given, and provision are made for natural lighting in each coach and strengthening of the underframe chassis for increased loading and high speed operations. The exteriors of these coaches are also given a fresh coat of polyurethane painting. 

“The Golden Rock Workshop has successfully completed the conversion of 176 old coaches into automobile carriers in the space of one year, thereby fulfilling the two orders given to it,” the official said. The automobile carriers can run at a speed of 110 kilometres per hour and can also be used to transport commodities and parcels. 

In addition to this task, the workshop is also involved in a mosaic of activities including the overhaul of broad gauge passenger coaches and diesel locomotives, the overhaul of steam locomotives operated on the Nilgiri Mountain Railway section, the manufacture of container wagons for the Container Corporation of India and the manufacture of stainless steel wagons for railway use.