Gujarat: Sabarmati to get Rs 307-crore Vande Bharat maintenance hub; heavy repair shed nears completion
The Western Railway is developing a Rs 307-crore maintenance hub at Sabarmati to carry out scheduled maintenance of Vande Bharat trains, with construction of the heavy repair bay shed nearing completion and the wheel care shed already built.
The project is being undertaken by the Ahmedabad Division of Western Railway as Phase II of the Integrated Coaching Depot (ICD) at Sabarmati.
It is designed to provide specialised infrastructure for the maintenance of modern trainsets, reducing the need to send them to other locations for major maintenance.
The facility is being developed to handle scheduled soft schedule (SS-I and SS-II) maintenance of 24-coach Vande Bharat trainsets.
According to the project's planned capacity, SS-I maintenance of a 24-coach rake can be completed in around 30 days, while SS-II maintenance is expected to take approximately 45 days.
The depot is designed to undertake SS-I maintenance of about 12 rakes or SS-II maintenance of eight rakes annually.
The project includes a heavy repair bay shed, section sheds, a wheel care shed, a tandem wheel lathe shed, a drop pit, retractable overhead equipment (OHE), machinery and plant (M&P), and other associated facilities. Construction and installation work is progressing in stages, with some major structures already completed.
The heavy repair bay shed, measuring 322 metres by 25 metres and covering 86,597 square feet, is almost complete. It will have two maintenance lines.
One will be equipped with synchronised pit jacks to lift coaches and remove bogies, while the other will be used to maintain coach interiors, passenger amenities, braking systems and electrical equipment.
The section sheds, measuring 322 metres by 20 metres and covering 69,334 square feet, are being developed for the dismantling, assembly and overhauling of major mechanical and electrical equipment, including assemblies and sub-assemblies.
The equipment to be serviced will include traction transformers, traction converters, traction motors, auxiliary converters, isolation transformers, pantographs and roof-mounted package units.
Construction of the wheel care shed, measuring 75 metres by 40 metres and covering 32,292 square feet, has been completed. The shed and its associated service building are ready for handover.
It is intended for wheel and axle overhauling, resurfacing and turning, and will have a computer numerical control (CNC) surface wheel lathe, a CNC axle turning lathe, a dynamic wheel balancing machine and a hydraulic wheel press, among other equipment.
Work on the track infrastructure has also advanced, with rail linking completed across approximately 2,547 metres of four stabling lines. Work on both maintenance lines in the heavy repair bay shed is also nearly complete.
The 30-metre-by-20-metre electrical sub-station building, covering 6,458 square feet, has been completed and handed over. It will support the depot's electrical requirements.
Once operational, the integrated facility is expected to strengthen the Ahmedabad division's capacity to undertake scheduled maintenance of modern trainsets within a single complex, with dedicated infrastructure for coach repairs, electrical equipment and wheel maintenance.
