Soon, Railway Staff to Be Trained Via VR to Maintain Local Coaches

Virtual reality-based system being tested at 100-yr-old Kurla car shed, deployment likely this month

- Shashank Rao

MUMBAI: While the Indian Railways (IR) is celebrating 100 years of the first electricity-powered train journey between Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (CSMT) and Kurla on February 3, 1925, the 100-year-old car shed at Kurla, which played a pivotal role in the journey, is transforming the way railway staff are trained to maintain Mumbai's local trains.

In a first for the IR, the car shed has adopted a Virtual Reality (VR) based training system for repairing coaches, which is currently undergoing testing and is expected to go live later this month. The beta version of the system is currently on display at the exhibition at CSMT to mark the centenary.

VR for coach maintenance
Built in 1925, the Kurla car shed is located on the western side of the railway tracks between Kurla and Vidyavihar stations. It has around 500-600 staff who work in three shifts to maintain 70-75 rakes of local trains. The workers undertake periodic overhauling of the rakes over 3 days to 18 months, depending on the need and schedule. Approval has been granted to enhance the holding capacity of the car shed to accommodate more rakes, said sources.

The VR-based training system, procured in January this year, has been installed in the laboratory on the premises. It comprises a large screen, a headset, a hand-held controller, gloves and other paraphernalia.