South Central Railways (SCR) has taken one more crucial step in its efforts to take forward the initiative of “Atmanirbhar Bharat” and “Make in India” concept, with the Signal & Telecommunications (S & T) Workshop at Mettuguda by achieving in-house capacity in manufacturing Point machines. The workshop has received approval for manufacturing and supplying Point Machines (of 143 mm and 220 mm).
- Considering the widespread usage of point Machines in Railways, this is a major feat towards the self sustainability by the Railway production units.
- The Point machines are extensively operated by Railways across its vast network.
- They are used for smooth transition of trains from one track to the other.
- These machines play a vital role in providing a safe mechanism for changing the operation of train movement from one line to another, by securely locking the relevant necessary points, duly ensuring least vibrations for the trains.
- Previously, these Point Machines were being manufactured at only two locations over Indian Railways, with the rest being manufactured by Private Agencies.
- Now, with the initiative taken by the SCR’s Signal & Telecommunications Workshop at Mettuguda, it becomes only the third Unit over Indian Railways having the capability to produce and supply Point Machines (of 143 mm and 220 mm).
- The benefits of this include:
- Greater availability of Point Machines at lower cost.
- This also leads to less dependence on external agencies.
- It will also speed up the efforts to raise the speed of our tracks, as the Point machine – 220mm comes along with clamp lock providing additional safety for trains to operate at higher permissible speeds.
- The S & T workshop, Mettuguda has a capacity to manufacture 3,250 No.s per year, each of Point machines – 143mm & 220mm.
- The production from this unit will be able to cater the requirement of SCR, besides supplying to other Zones.
- The codal life time of Point machines as per the route is normally 12 years or 3,00,000 operations, after which the replacement is inevitable.
- Hence, the requirement of point machines is a regular phenomenon in Indian Railways.
- Shri Gajanan Mallya, GM, SCR has appreciated the officers & staff of S & T Workshop, Mettuguda and other SCR officials who have been actively involved in developing the manufacturing unit with the in-house resources.
- He also stated that this indigenously designed point machines by S&T Workshop, Mettuguda depicts the commitment of SCR zone towards encouraging Make in India concept duly evolving to self – sustainability.
Source: South Central Railways-Press Release
