Locos bearing Tricolour, Mahatma’s image to mark 150th birth anniversary in Mumbai

A loco being painted at Kalyan diesel shed Monday. (Photo: Deepak Joshi)

Three diesel locos and one electric loco bearing the Tricolour and Mahatma Gandhi’s image will be deployed in different railway sections to mark the 150th birth anniversary of Gandhiji on Tuesday. The Kalyan diesel loco shed of the Central Railway (CR) will attach these locos to south and Konkan-bound trains.

With more than 300 staff maintaining as many as 100 diesel loco engines, the Kalyan shed is one of the largest loco sheds for Mumbai sections. A team of painting staff has outlined the exterior of the engine with the Tricolor and painted a sketch of Gandhi’s face, celebrating the Mahatma’s 150th birth anniversary and underlining the importance of ‘Swachh Bharat’.

“We selected only those loco engines that were parked in the shed for maintenance. A team of four painters painted the engines in the shed,” said Dharmendra Tripathi, senior divisional mechanical engineer, Kalyan shed.

Two diesel locos will be attached to south-bound trains, one will haul the 17031 Hyderabad Express and the other the 11041 Chennai Express. The third diesel loco will haul the 50103 Ratnagiri passenger train. The electric loco has been planned for the Deccan Queen Express.

While two engines will be attached to Chennai Express, one loco will be attached to a Konkan-bound train. Chintaman Dondu, chief painter for the engines, said, “We painted these engines within a week. We wanted to keep the theme simple but let the message of cleanliness and Mahatma’s birthday be revealed. As these locos were getting maintained at the same time, we took turns to paint or carry out technical work on these engines.”

“We have afforested a major portion of the vacant land in the shed. We have also developed a nice garden to improve visual appeal. Maintaining cleanliness in a diesel shed also adheres to the Swachata message,” Tripathi added.