New Delhi, May 19: The railways have prescribed code of practice for maintenance of electrical wirings and equipment in coaches to prevent fire as per the standards laid down by Research Design and Standards Organization (RDSO), its R&D unit. Coaches are provided with aluminium cable of suitable sizes for various circuits which are run in metallic conduits under frame and rigid fire retardant conduits in the super structure, an official press release said.
The positive and negative cables are run in separate conduits in under frame and on either side wall of the coach body to avoid any short circuiting. While laying such cables, grommets are provided to insulate them against damage. Besides, all the junction boxes and fuse distribution boards are made from fire retardant fibre glass reinforced plastic with synthetic moulded compound, the release said.
All such cables and electrical devices are tested periodically as per the prescribed standards. All the critical electrical components used in the coaches have fire retardant properties. Prescribed sizes and standards of all electrical devices and fuses are used for protection of all electrical circuits inside the coach.
During trip inspection, all the fuses and cables in junction boxes are checked. Complete wiring and all junction boxes are thoroughly checked to ensure proper wiring condition during six monthly schedule of inspection, it added. Bureau Report