Among the many feathers in the cap of Mysore city — as the first of its kind in the entire nation — is the Railway Workshop in Ashokapuram where Composite Brake Blocks (CBBs) for trains are being manufactured on a large scale, sufficient to meet the demands of South Western Railways (SWR).

Among the 17 units of the Railways across the country, Mysore Railway Workshop is the only one which manufactures CBB, while the rest outsource them from private companies, said U. Subba Rao, Chief Workshop Manager, in an exclusive interview with Star of Mysore yesterday.

He said that the Railway Workshop in Mysore, established in 1924, took up the initiative of manufacturing the CBB around 12 years ago. However, it got the official clearance from Railway Ministry only last year. Till last year, the workshop had produced 75,000 CBBs while this year, it had touched one lakh, said Rao and added that the Mysore Workshop had won the Railway Minister’s second Best Innovation Award for the year 2012.

“The CBB is lighter in weight compared to the conventional cast-iron tread brakes and is less harsh on the wheels, thus enhancing their longevity. Life span of each brake component is around three months or nearly one lakh kilometers,” said Rao.

Deputy Chief Workshop Manager P.A. Salahuddin and Senior Section In-Charge of the CBB workshop, Ananth Kumar, explained about the CBB manufacturing process.

The Railway Workshop at Mysore was established as a Base Workshop of the erstwhile Mysore State Railway in 1924. With the formation of integrated Southern Railway in 1951, this workshop became part of Southern Railway.

Other activities of the workshop include periodic overhauling of all types of BG coaches, refurbishment of coaches, intermediate overhauling of bogies, manufacturing of toy trains and conversion of coaches.

source: http://www.starofmysore.com / Star of Mysore / Home> General News / by K.M. Chengappa / April 09th, 2013