SOUTH CENTRAL RAILWAY

1
SOUTH CENTRAL RAILWAY INDEPTH ANALYSIS OF COACH
MAINTENANCE (WASHING LINE)
2
INTRODUCTION Railway Board has directed all CPOs
to study and assess the requirement of manpower.
The South Central Railway has been assigned with
the job of conducting the workstudy in the
following categories. a) Signal Maintainers (ESM
MSM). b) Coach Maintenance (Washing
line).  (Railway Boards D.O.No.E(MPP)2006/ 1/103,
dated 06.12.2006)
3
 a)  Area of Research Washing line activity of
C W Dept. Hyderabad Depot SC Division of
S.C.Railway. Other Railways. CDO/Bombay
Central of Bombay Central
Divn - Western Railway CDO/BBS of Khurdha
Road Division - East Coast
Railway
4

• Existing yardstick for washing line activity.
• (Rly Bd lr No 2000/M(C) 143/5 dt.24-12-01 and lr
  No 99/TG-V/12/2 dt.13-4-2000).
• Trains Primary Maint.
  Secondary Maint.
• Man/coach Man/coach
• Undergear maintenance-
  
• Long distance/
• super fast - 1.1 LR/RG
  .55 LR/RG
• Mail/Exp - 0.9 LR/RG
  .45 LR/RG
• Passenger - 0.75 LR/RG
  .36 LR/RG
• Washing, cleaning-
• .65 man/coach LR/RG

5

• Norms as per Bds lr.No E(MPP)2006/1/89 dt
  4-10-06 )
•   Requirement of train examination staff for
  goods rake and coaching rake maintenance to be
  done on actual yardstick. Shift timings should
  be planned and spread, if required, for optimum
  utilization of categories involved in activities
  like coach watering, coach cleaning and garbage
  disposal which can be outsourced, should be given
  separately.
• d) Bench marks conveyed by Board.
• No bench marking prescribed for C W
  department.

• e) Specific details of the sub-activities
  performed on washing line.
• Under gear maintenance of the rakes on pit
  line.
•     Upper gear maintenance consisting of interior
  dry cleaning, exterior washing/cleaning and
  ancillary works such as Pipe fitting,
  Carpentry, Painting, welding etc.
•     Maintenance of schedules. (A B)
•    Disinfestations of coaches.

6
f) Comparison of staff strength (Sanctioned
posts) between S.C.Railway and all other
individual Railways.
7

• Reports of studies conducted by any Railway in
  this regard- summary of the reports.
• No Railway except S.C.Rly conducted in-depth
  analysis.
•   
• h) i) Report of any Railway by workstudy wing
  of that Railway Recommendation of report/the
  work study review and its implementation on that
  Railway or on Indian Railways.
• Reports of the workstudy wing of other
  Railways
• i) Surat Depot,Mumbai Division of Western Rly
  
• Recommended for no change in the strength of
  staff.
  
• ii) Puri Depot, Khurda Divn of East Coast Rly -
• The work study was conducted after out sourcing
  the activity of washing cleaning. Suggested for
  surrender of Safaiwala Posts being utilized for
  dry cleaning.  

8

•  j) Views on the existing Yardstick/
  norms/workstudies/ Reports for further
  modification.
• 1. Scope and aim of the Study.
• In-depth analysis of Washing line activities of
  CW depot to examine the manpower requirement.

2. Broad set up of the Depot. i)
Holding capacity - 526 coaches ii) Daily
out turn - 180
coaches iii) No of trains maintained-
Primary maintenance - 10 (Incl. 1 pass
twice in a week) Secondary maintenance
- 02 iv) No of pit lines - 06
3. Staff Strength.
9

• Activities of the Depot.
•  Activities of the depot as a whole.
•   Upper gear and under gear maintenance of the
  rakes on pit line.
•   Sick line, IOH, Schedules (A B), Coaching,
  reception dispatch on platform, stores,
  disinfestations, office, material chasing, online
  staff etc.

• Activities connected to washing line working.
• Under gear maintenance of the rakes on pit
  line.
• Upper gear maintenance consisting of
  interior dry cleaning, Exterior
  washing/cleaning and ancillary works like
  Pipe fitting, Carpentry, Painting, welding etc.
• Maintenance of schedules.
• Disinfestations of coaches.  

10

• Utilization of staff on Washing Line.
•       One batch maintains one rake in the shift
  of 8 hours.
•       Duty hours depending upon the availability
  of rake on pit line.
•       The batch consists of the following
  categories.
• Under gear - Supervisors, Sr.Tech Tech.
• Upper gear - Ancillary staff Group D staff.
•   Separate batch for schedules (A B)
  maintenance.

11
Composition of staff on each activity.   The
utilization of staff on each rake at the Depot is
considered as optimum composition.
12

• Requirement of staff as per composition( For
  10 rakes ( 91)
• 1. Technicians
• Requirement of staff for seven rakes -
  7 x 7 49 (Normal rakes- 01
  shift)
•   Requirement for long distance Train
  - 1 x 10 10 AP Express- night shift
•   Requirement for 7039/8646 - 1 x 9
  9 EastCoast Exp- -do-
•   2 additional gangs of AP 7039/8646 -
  19 -- Day shift
• Total - 87
• RG for 87 _at_ 16 - 15
• LR requirement - 17
• Total requirement -
  119

Sr.Technicians   Sr.Technicians are being
utilized for supervising the activities.      Out
of 20 Sr.Technicians, 13 are utilized on washing
line , 2 on other activities and 5 vacant
posts.     On critical review it is felt that
only 12 are required for supervision of washing
line activity.
13
Need based requirement.
A total number of 32 posts (Sr.Tech- 6, Tech
26) against 258 sanctions are found surplus.
Thus the cost of saving per annum is Rs
43,20,000/-.
14

• Maintenance of schedules.
• The gang for maintenance of schedules consists
  SSE 1, Tech 12 and Group D- 7.
• Since the activity involved safety aspect, no
  attempt has been made to scan the staff.
• Washing and cleaning activity.
• Composition of staff on each rake.
• Exterior cleaning - 04
• Interior cleaning - 08
• (_at_ 3 non AC- 1 employee
• _at_ 3 for AC- 2 employees
• Toilet cleaning -
  03
• As per the above composition, the total
• requirement for working is (Including RG) -
  135.
• LR requirement - 22
• Total - 157

The washing and cleaning activity has been
outsourced. Out of 180 coaches, 130 have been
outsourced and the balance is under process. 
As a result of outsourcing a total number of
157 Group D posts against sanctions of 386 are
found to be surplus. Thus savings per annum is
Rs 1,21,89,480/-
15

• Ancillary categories.
•   About 68 posts on different heads viz, Pipe
  fitter, Carpenter,
• Blacksmith, Painter etc are available for
  maintenance of
• upper gear.
•      No safety is involved in maintaining these
  activities.
•      No attempt has been made to outsource the
  activity so far.
•      On critical review, 5 posts of Carpenter,
  out of 29 sanctions
• are found to be surplus.  Thus saving per
  annum is Rs 5,16,960/-

• Disinfestations.
•        The activity involves disinfestations of
  the coaches periodically as per the
  schedules.
•        The activity has already been
  outsourced long back.
•        The allotment of 3 Group D posts
  even after outsourcing the activity
  is found to be uneconomical. Thus saving per
  annum is Rs 2,32,920/-

16

• Recommendations.
• 32 Technicians on under gear maintenance are to
  be surrendered.
• 5 Posts of Carpenters are to be surrendered.
• 3. Out of 157 Group D posts found excess on
  washing and cleaning activity, the 76 vacant
  posts are to be surrendered immediately and the
  balance in a phased manner.
• 4.    Three Group D posts on disinfestations
  activity are to be surrendered.
• Cost savings per annum-
• 32 Technicians - Rs 43,20,000
• 5 Carpenters - Rs 5,16,960
• 160 Group D staff - Rs 1,24,22,400
• Total - Rs 1,72,59,360

17

• View on other Railways
• The activities and sub activities on
  washing line are same on all Railways.
•          The scenario on other Railways is as
  follows.

18

• Observations and recommendations.
• As could be seen from the statement,
  BBS Depot, Khurdha Divn, East Coast Rly is
  maintaining 15 Trains (11 4) with less number
  of staff as compared to S.C Western Railway.
•        At BBS depot of ECo Railway, one batch
  of technicians are attending two trains in a
  shift of 8 hours for under gear maintenance _at_ 4
  hours on each rake which is an unique
  utilization when compared to other Railways and
  this can be considered as best utilization
  subject to ensuring safety norms.
•         Washing and cleaning activity is almost
  all outsourced, hence the posts rendered surplus
  can be surrendered.
•          The ancillary works can be outsourced
  on par with BBS depot as no safety
  aspect is involved.
•          Watering of coaches on washing lines can
  also be outsourced on par with BBS
  depot.
•      Feasibility of entrusting the work related
  to maintenance of schedule (A B)
  to the under gear gang on par with BBS and Bombay
  Central Depot instead of keeping
  separate gang can be examined.
•  
•  
•  

19

• k) Views on the possibility of
  introducing/upgrading the existing technology,
  IT, work methods.
• Introduction of new technology such as CBC rake
  and disc brakes.
• The new system of disinfestations being adapted
  at workshop during the POH. Thus outsourcing can
  be saved.
• l) Views on the slackness in the work methods
  with specific reference to the category being
  reviewed.
• Need based utilisation of staff to avoid under
  utilisation and to save manpower.

m) Indication on redundancy of category or
connected activity.    There is no scope for
redundancy of any activity connected to washing
line. However, some activity can be outsourced
as explained above.
20
n) Scope for surrender of activity or post Out
Sourcing Total activity of washing
and cleaning including watering of coaches and
ancillary works.   Introduction/up gradation of
technology Introduction of IT No scope for
these aspects as far as the activities on washing
line are concerned.
o) Short term action plan      The
short term planning is to outsource the total
activity of Washing and cleaning, watering
of coaches ancillary works and to identify
the surplus. p) Long Term Action Plan for
reduction of staff during the next five
years.       The activity of under gear
maintenance involves safety aspect.
Further, the activity of upper gear maintenance
has already been proposed for out-sourcing.
Therefore no proposal could be made for long
term action plan.
21

• THANK YOU