South Central Railway (SCR) used be adversely affected when electric locomotives would be shifted to workshops for periodic overhaul. Identifying the need for high-capacity loco sheds, SCR commissioned capacity enhancement works at Vijayawada and Vizag sheds.

Vijayawada loco shed, which is the largest one in SCR division, used to hold 175 locos. After the systemic rejig, Vijayawada shed can accommodate upto 219 locos.

R Dhananjayulu said they did not want to wait for the capacity enhancement to be fully complete and have already started homing number of locos. “After the completion of the loco shed enhancement, we will soon begin homing three-phased locos which is soon going to be the future of locomotives in Indian Railways,” Dhananjayulu told.

Railway officials said the works were commissioned in the last three years. With around 589 electric locomotives, SCR has the highest number of such locomotives in Indian Railways. Due to the lack of appropriate sheds, they were forced to send them to other workshops at Dahod in Gujarat, Perumbur in Tamil Nadu and Bhusawal in Maharashtra till 2017.

SCR general manager Vinod Kumar Yadav announced the novel measure at the 38th meeting of the electric-loco maintenance study group held in July 2017. The measure is expected to reduce maintenance time and other related costs as well as facilitate seamless running of trains. Officials said SCR is working on the idea to develop loco sheds that can maintain both diesel and electrica