SCR Bags First Prize at All India Loco Cab Competition
South Central Railway bagged the first prize in Loco Cab Competition held at Patiala Locomotive Works. The prize is jointly shared by Electric Loco shed, Lallaguda and Diesel Loco Shed, Vatava, Western Railway. Thirteen Locomotives from various Zonal railways participated in the competition.
The Railway Board had advised the Zonal railways to upgrade cabs of electric locos to reduce fatigue of crew and provide comfort in long working hours. It had been advised to cover overall ambience, Noise Isolation, AC cum Thermal insulation improvement, Waterless Urinal, seat improvement, floor improvement, easy alright signal exchange, provision for keeping baggage, upcoming caution alert system, better look out glass cleaning mechanism, single key operation, desk modification to facilitate reach of all switches while being on seat, sun visor improvement, Crew Voice and Video Recording System & Driver advisory etc.
Accordingly, a 10 year old WAG9HC locomotive of Electric Loco Shed, Lallaguda was chosen for up-gradation and successfully implemented the features with latest material and state of the art technologies have been used to various driving aids and other facilities for crew.
By thermal insulation and noise isolation of cabs, a temperature reduction of 12.4°C and a noise reduction to the tune of 13dB was achieved. An ergonomically designed FRP (Fibre reinforced Polymer) based driver Desk with rearranged switches to operate while crew seated, and emergency brake valve relocated to make the job of Loco Pilots and Assistant Loco Pilots less strenuous. A repeater Driver display Unit, Digital Signalling Power Monitoring (SPM) repeater, Digital Trouble shooting Directory are also provided in Assistant Loco Pilots panel for providing real time information to Assistant Loco Pilots as well as Loco Pilots.
Other important features like, Pantograph and Formation surveillance system, Buffer zone view while shunting, Innovative items like Auto head light dimmer, Illumination fine control for Cab and Spot lights to reduce glare, Digital Log book upgradable to link with SLAM (Software for Loco Asset Management), Power windows, Electric Wiper, Foot step lighting, Noise less Cab Fans, Upgraded Fire Extinguisher operation system are provided. To ease the movement of crew in cabin, Luggage racks having space of 285 Litres in CAB2 and 89Litres in CAB1 are provided.
