With the use of quick watering system, a 24-coach train can be filled up in five minutes. (File)
Highlights
- Indian Railways will introduce a system to reduce water filling time
- Rail board has sanctioned Rs. 300 crore for the project
- Water in long-distance trains is filled every 300-400 km
Water woes on trains will soon be a thing of the past with Indian Railways set to introduce a system which will reduce water filling time from the existing 20 minutes to just five minutes at stations.
The Railways will introduce the system in March next year at 142 stations which have the water filling system for trains. The rail board has sanctioned Rs 300 crore for the project.
Water in long-distance trains, used in toilets and washbasins, is filled every 300-400 km.
With the use of quick watering system, a 24-coach train can be filled up within five minutes and multiple trains can be simultaneously watered at the same time.
"Earlier the water in the coaches was filled with the help of four-inch pipes. These would now be replaced with six-inch pipes with high power motors and the water would be supplied to the train coaches through a computerised system called SCADA (Supervisory Control And Data Acquisition), designed by RDSO," said Railway Board Member (Rolling Stock) Rajesh Agarwal.
The old pipes did not have enough pressure and took around 20 minutes to fill the tanks with capacity of 1,800 litre of water in a coach, which resulted in shortages.
A senior official of the ministry said the national transporter receives a lot of complaints about inadequate water in coaches and this system would ensure that there will be no water shortage.
He said the ministry has planned to install pumps of 40 horsepower to increase the water pressure.