Earlier, carriages were washed with mechanic rollers; thereafter workers perfected them with brushes. Around five to seven washmen worked there depending on the quantity of carriages, but after the washing, carriages looked far from new. “Manual labour is now set aside completely – said Head of the depot Mr Sergey Yamshchikov – Only one operator and a computer fulfil all washing processes here. Modern washing detergents and technologies are applied”.
Carriages are washed automatically: all shop sites can be seen on the operator’s monitor. When a diesel locomotive enters the shop, the water supply switches off automatically in order to avoid water spilling on the locomotive’s air netting. Additionally, the washing complex is equipped with eco-friendly recirculation sewage treatment facilities. After passing through these facilities water is delivered to the washing machine for reuse and waste is disposed of, which saves resources.
A presentable exterior view of rolling stock will attract additional passengers to railroad transport.
Safety of railway transportation is another not less significant matter for passengers.
It is planned that by the end of the year new equipment for bogies shop will be set up in the depot: modern stands for disassembly and assembly, rooms for washing and painting. Mr Sergey Yamshchikov explained that there will be a possibility to repair even bolster-less high velocity bogies of the new types of carriages.“It has large importance as far as technical maintenance of modern rolling stock is concerned. For today new-type carriages are put only in two trains operated by Kuybishevskaya branch of FPC: Samara-Moscow and Samara-Saint-Petersburg, – he explained. – But other carriages also need high-quality maintenance with application of modern technologies”.
The reconstruction will enable increase of the depot repair capacities by over 900 carriages per year, whereas in 2001 the depot repaired 550 carriages.
12 July 2012 Newspaper «Gudok»
Anatoliy Semenov
