The first depot at Shakur Basti in New Delhi, constructed at an estimated cost of Rs 213.36 crore, is fast nearing completion and may receive its first train for maintenance in the first week of August.
With the proliferation of Vande Bharat trains, Indian Railways has earmarked over Rs 2,400 crore for setting up 21 maintenance depots across the country.
The maintenance infrastructure for the Vande Bharat rakes was fast becoming a matter of concern, as there are 25 semi-high speed trains operational as of now.
However, since there will be over 400 Vande Bharat trains in the next three years, there is a need for state-of-the-art maintenance depots for these rakes.
Addressing the concern, the Railways has firmed up plans to speed up construction of maintenance hubs all over the rail network.
The first depot at Shakur Basti in New Delhi constructed at an estimated cost of Rs 213.36 crore is fast nearing completion and may receive its first train for maintenance in the revamped facility in the first week of August.
This depot will have facilities for operational maintenance such as trip schedules or weekly schedules in the running maintenance bay. This bay will enable inspection of undergear, overhead equipment, interiors, washing and cleaning.
The Shakur Basti Vande Bharat depot will be home to rakes built by the ICF or other production units of Indian Railways.
There is also a workshop bay, which will handle major repairs including periodic over-hauls. This will have facilities for extensive repairs of the undergear (bogies), brake systems, draft gear (couplers), air conditioning, and other electrical and mechanical subsystems.
The depot will be able to home 15-20 rakes of the Vande Bharat Express.
Meanwhile, during the last three months, tenders were issued for many more depots. Two of them have already been finalised in record time of 4-5 weeks each — one at Jodhpur in Rajasthan and another at Sabarmati in Gujarat.
The contract for Jodhpur Depot has been awarded for Rs 140.22 crore and will be handed over to one of the technology partners, who will build Vande Bharat trains under a separate Make-in-India contract.
The depot provides the basic infrastructure, such as line connectivities, power and water supply. Additional machines and equipment will be provided by the technology partner.
The second contract has been awarded for Sabarmati at a cost of Rs 241.75 crore. This will be home to rakes built by Indian Railway’s own production units and will have the same level of facilities and equipment as the Shakur Basti depot.
Both the depots will be ready in about a year and a half. Contracts for two more depots may be awarded in August this year. These will be at Anand Vihar in New Delhi and Jogeshwari in Mumbai.
When completed, these five depots will go a long way in ensuring upkeep and safety of the semi-high speed trains across the country.
Maintenance depots will come up at Lucknow, Amritsar, Pune, Shalimar, Patliputra, Bilsapur, Bhopal, Byapanhali, Hubali, New Jalpaiguri, Guwahati and Howrah.
While Hubali depot will be constructed at Rs 300 crore, Pataliputra depot is expected to cost Rs 200 crore and Bhopal depot will cost Rs 99.19 crore.
Contracts will be awarded for setting up Lucknow depot at Rs 295 crore, Shalimar depot at Rs 109.91 crore and Pune depot at Rs 90 crore.
All these projects are being handled by the Workshop Project Organisation based at Patna.