Old passenger coaches get new lease of life, converted into automobile carriers at Tiruchi workshop

The Golden Rock Railway Workshop is converting old passenger coaches that would otherwise be discarded as scrap, into carriers to transport newly-manufactured cars and bikes from their factories to various destinations

Old passenger coaches of trains manufactured at the Integral Coach Factory (ICF), Chennai that have completed their codal life of 25 years, are now being given a fresh lease of life in Tiruchi.

The coaches are being converted into New Modified Goods-High Speed (NMGHS) coaches to serve as automobile carriers to transport newly-manufactured two-wheelers and cars. Modifications and innovations have been carried out in these converted coaches to extend their life span by another 10 years, for active operation.

The 94-year-old Golden Rock Railway Workshop at Tiruchi, which has been entrusted with this task by the Railway Board, has so far converted and dispatched 78 NMGHS coaches ever since it ventured into this new activity in July this year. The workshop was given the task of converting a total of 176 old ICF passenger coaches into NMGHS. Presently, conversion of 20 more coaches is underway at the workshop.

With more, new generation Linke Holfmann Busch (LHB) passenger coaches being introduced in many mails and express trains, it was decided to make use of the old ICF coaches which were found fit even after completion of 25 years of their life. The old coaches would have otherwise been condemned and sent to be converted into scrap, an official of the workshop said.

A host of modifications have been carried out as part of the conversion work, which include strengthening of the underframe chassis for increased loading and high speed operations as well as strengthening of the coach roof. Provision of sliding doors in each converted coach for easier loading and unloading of automobiles at stations, provisions for natural lighting inside the coaches and the provision of a double stack arrangement to accommodate the maximum number of two-wheelers possible in each coach are among the innovative modifications carried out, the officer said.

The modifications have been done as per the specifications of the Lucknow-based Research Designs and Standards Organisation, the research and development organisation of the Indian Railways. Each converted coach can be loaded with 60-70 two-wheelers or three to four cars depending on their size and design. The coaches can also be used for transportation of parcels.

The converted coaches can run at a speed of 110 km/per hour making them high speed, and are essentially meant for transportation of new vehicles that roll out from factories to different destinations.