DLW produces a locomotive in a week
Production at DLW restarted after 48-day closure due to lockdown
Binay Singh
Varanasi: A 6000 Horse Power (HP) electric engine was rolled out in just a week’s time on Saturday from the Diesel Locomotive Works (DLW) after the 48-day-long closure of the workshops due to COVID-19 outbreak.
“The locomotive is being sent to the Gomoh electric shed of the East Central Railway (ECR)”, said the DLW chief public relation officer Nitin Mehrotra adding that it was the first electric engine produced by the DLW in the 2020-21 financial year. The DLW officials and employees welcomed the feat during rolling out ceremony. He said that it was a historic achievement of manufacturing the locomotive by 500 employees in just a week.
The DLW, a premier production unit of Indian Railways in Varanasi, restarted the production of locomotives on May 9 after a long closure due to lockdown in the wake of COVID-19 outbreak. The production activities have been started with necessary precautions and as per the protocol of lockdown. The services of only 33% employees living in DLW township are being taken in production activities.
In view of the COVID-19 pandemic all employees were made to download the Arogya Setu app in their mobile phones, and all of them have been given face masks. The workshop timing has been divided into two shifts with strict following of social distancing norms. Each employee has to undergo thermal scanning at the entrance. Besides, proper arrangements of sanitization and handwashing have been made at various places in the workshops.
As per the guideline of the ministry of home affairs and instructions of the district administration, the working timings have been fixed from 7.30 am to 12.30 pm for first shift, and from 1.30 pm to 6 pm for the second shift.