The South Western Railway commissioned a 140 Tonne breakdown crane at Diesel Loco shed Hubballi on 13th March. A breakdown crane is a part of Accident Relief Trains (ARTs) which are needed as a safety requirement for restoration after a railway accident.
140 Ton crane is a part of A class ART and are usually deployed up to 250 kms range from their base. These cranes are capable of lifting a loaded BOXN wagon on the same track.
India manufactures primarily two makes of Diesel Hydraulic Breakdown Cranes operating over Indian Railways viz. Gottwald and Cowans Sheldon, each having their own variations. Indian railways have also started procurement of 175 Tonnes cranes.
Indian Railways had first procured 140 ton cranes in 1986. 12 cranes were ordered from Gottwald another set of 12 cranes was ordered from Jessop and Company with Transfer of Technology from NEI, UK. Previously, Jessop and Company manufactured only Steam Breakdown Cranes and EOT Cranes and Jamalpur Workshop of the railways was unable to supply them due to the workload but had assembled a part of the Gottwald order of cranes.
Indian Railways accident relief management consists of more than 6 thousand trained breakdown staff, 176 ARTs and 86 Accident Relief Medical Vans (ARMVs) made using passenger coaches. All Accident Relief Trains and Accident Relief Medical Vans have pre-defined beats, inspection schedules and response time. In addition, there are 90 breakdown Cranes of various capacities.
The railways have also created the specification of high speed Self Propelled Accident Relief Trains (HS-SPARTs) with a speed of 160 kmph and it is planned to be procured in addition to existing 110 kmph SPART.