The ‘Vande Bharat’ train with 16 coaches which arrived at the Golden Rock Railway Workshop at Tiruchi for overhaul.
| Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
For the first time, the over 90-year-old Golden Rock Railway Workshop at Ponmalai in Tiruchi is to carry out overhauling of the modern Vande Bharat train coaches within its sprawling premises.
One rake consisting of 16 Vande Bharat coaches arrived on Monday (December 1, 2025) for complete overhauling at this British-built workshop. The coaches of the Vande Bharat train sent for overhaul were in operation on the Chennai – Mysuru broad gauge section.
About 250 technical personnel of the workshop belonging to the mechanical and electrical wings would carry out this detailed exercise meticulously examining every coach. This is for the first time that the Golden Rock Railway Workshop is to overhaul Vande Bharat coaches, the workshop authorities told The Hindu on Tuesday (December 2).
The workshop will undertake SS-2 (Shop Schedule) overhauling of the coaches which is done every three years. Technical personnel of the workshop had already visited railway workshops at Matunga in Mumbai, Ajmer in Rajasthan and Charbagh in Lucknow to gain first hand exposure, experience and training in the maintenance of the Vande Bharat coaches ahead of carrying out the exercise.
The Railway Board, New Delhi had nominated the Golden Rock Railway Workshop at Tiruchi to undertake SS-I (Shop Schedule) and other major schedules of the Vande Bharat train sets.
The Vande Bharat trains are semi-high speed service which are being operated by the railways on various sections across the railway network including on some stretches in the Southern Railway zone. The indigenously developed first Vande Bharat train was flagged off in February 2019 on the New Delhi – Varanasi route.
The Vande Bharat coaches are equipped with modern facilities such as automatic doors, GPS-based audio visual passenger information system, comfortable seating and intelligent braking system which enables better acceleration and deceleration. The executive class of these coaches has rotating chairs inside. Due to its faster journey time, the Vande Bharat trains have been enjoying good patronage.
The workshop authorities said the overhauling work involves examination of bogies, furnishing attention pertaining to seats, examination of wheels, bearings and flooring, attention of electrical equipment and roof mounted air conditioned units, vinyl wrapping at appropriate portions among others.
New bogies would be replaced with the existing ones wherever required. A fresh coat of paint would be given on the exterior and interior portions of the coaches as part of the overhauling work. The plan is to complete the overhauling of the Vande Bharat coaches in 45 days, said the authorities.
Published – December 02, 2025 02:58 pm IST
