The central railway workshop at Golden Rock near Tiruchirapalli in Tamil Nadu, India will soon start manufacturing goods wagons out of stainless steel sheets instead of the conventional mild steel. Mr V Carmelus chief mechanical engineer of Southern Railways said that “It was a policy decision of the railway ministry to go in for stainless steel wagons and the workshop at Golden Rock would be the first among the four workshops nominated by the ministry to produce them. The first batch of proto type wagons would hopefully roll out of Golden Rock by November 2007.” He added that flagging of the first batch of 4 refurbished passenger coaches meant for Nilgiris Mountain Railways, while remaining 7 coaches would be ready in another six months. An order has been received to manufacture 240 stainless steel wagons, called BOX-HL, meant to transport materials like iron ore and coal. The other factories chosen for the purpose include one at Jabalpur, Amritsar and Samastipur. The stainless steel wagons would carry more loads and would be cost effective for maintenance and operations. The workshop, which has undergone expansion, plans to increase production of wagons to 1000 units per annum from the present capacity of 700 units per annum.
