Train 18 series, part 14...manufacture starts!

Starting manufacture of Train 18 was actually more prosaic than what my build up here would suggest. Starting meant starting the welding and assembly of the under frame on the under frame station. The station itself was designed in association with the consultant and manufactured by under the supervision of Sri Ravichandran, Production Engineer/Planning, who was, incidentally chosen to head the manufacturing team for the prototype. The jig station had to be calibrated repeatedly and not in the routine manner that we were used to for other products. It was planned to get some sub-parts from trade and assemble and weld them at ICF in the said under frame station.

Although the bought out components were ordered on a couple of manufacturing firms which were considered to be two of the best of the lot, unexpected quality issues had cropped up in their supplies. Any slipshod work in the under frame does not mean that it would remain hidden from the view; lack of accuracy in the under frame starts a chain reaction of inaccuracies down the line while assembling the side walls, roof and door assembly etc. In spite of all the pressures to start the work, Sri Shashi Bhushan, the Chief Workshop Engineer and Sri Ravichandran put their foot down not to start work till components of correct quality were delivered.

Everyone was rearing to go and I myself gave the two manufacturers a piece of my mind. But you may be the General Manager or not, shouting hardly helps in getting the right quality. Firmness in not succumbing to the pressures of using defective components, howsoever small the deviation may be, does. The message to the two firms, however, was clear: here you are chosen to be a part of a historical project and better treat it with the respect it deserves or we change the order on someone else, even if it costs us delays.

Eventually, we were ready to start manufacture sometime at the end of the first week of February 2018. Then God, or rather gods, intervened.

God for Christians and Muslims and gods for Hindus are omnipresent, literally in work places on IR’s workshops and factories. In ICF, however, it has been taken to another level. Every single shop, section or office has presence of Hindu gods and goddesses in a separate large pedestal, which, per se, was understandable given the demography. In any case, many work places were more secular with representation of all major religions. As an atheist, I was somewhat flustered by it but could approach the issue very cautiously, what with the sentiments involved. In a lighter vein, I would summarize it as:

Yahan khuda, wahan khuda hai, idhar khuda, udhar khuda hai,

Aur jahan abhi tak nahin khuda hai, wahan bhi kal ko khudega!

There was a full-fledged temple inside the Furnishing factory with free entry for all on some big pooja days; of course, small makeshift temples as well places of worship for other religions were numerous inside the factories. Now this kind of free entry and mass pooja situation in a protected area is fraught with dangers; I can understand that all families were allowed inside the factories on the Ayudha Pooja day, which had assumed the form of a more social than religious, occasion and families enjoyed checking out the work place of their father/mother/ brother/sister and so on, but this type of pooja inside a factory? Then there was a house in a colony which was used as an evangelism centre with a loud speaker. There were some similar practices which, in my understanding, were bordering on illegal. I put a stop to all this. I was told that some GMs even attended bhajans on these pooja days in the factories earlier and stopping the big pooja in the factory would cause gods to visit us raging with their fiercest wrath. Some minor incidences were actually attributed to this by some staff and even officers. Nevertheless, I had put an end to similar large-scale religious practices inside factories earlier also and here I was, still in one piece. I guess I could pull it off because the actions were entirely secular without any appeasement to any group. But the pedestal presence of God and gods in work places is something I dare not touch. Sri Babu, Secretary/ICF advised me to ignore it completely or all hell may break loose and I acquiesced. 

Well, the day of the commencement of manufacture was fixed as 9^th Feb’18. The jigs were ready and the input components were checked for accuracy meticulously. There would be a pooja, I was told. No pooja please, I told Sri Babu. Sri Trivedi, the PCME, put his foot down. One man’s sense of propriety borne out of atheism cannot hold the sentiments of the entire ICF to ransom; Mr. GM would not only permit the pooja, he would ruddy well take part in it. There I was, totally stymied.  I had to bow down to the popular sentiment, fully aware that there could never be any salvation in it for me as God, or gods, would not be kind to an argumentative and reluctant worshipper:

Na  khuda hi  mila na  visal-e-sanam na idhar ke hue na udhar ke hue

rahe dil mein hamare ye ranj-o-alam na idhar ke hue na udhar ke hue

(I neither gained the love of God nor the beloved, now live with this grief and sorrow!)

The team had all lined up as we arrived for the simple ceremony. I did what the punditji directed me to do. All senior officers met the nominated manufacturing and coordinating design team one by one; the pride and excitement was writ large on their faces. I did a small weld myself which, unfortunately, had to be fettled and redone later. Thankfully, no one told me that I had made a great weld; in railways we can go to ridiculous extents to please and indulge senior people. I remember once in a rifle shooting competition, we had a bull’s eye paper pieced, kept hidden just near the eye; once the chief guest fired the inaugurating shot, which obviously went over the target board by a mile, someone ran from the other rend with the pre-pierced paper, shouting “bull’s eye missed by a whisker, causing the chief guest guy to start beaming expansively, being oh so happy with his shooting skills.

Sri Ravichandran had a tale to tell about the challenges which we listened to patiently but about that in some next post. This was a happy moment. A big round of claps by all to a crescendo and there it was, manufacture of Train 18 had started…

Were we late? Perhaps not? But Train 18 to be out 2018 and we were in February already. We knew that that the prototypes would need extensive rework and reapplications as the jig saw puzzle hardly ever fitted well in the first go; and remember, with nearly every coach being different from the other, we had sixteen prototypes to handle. Time was of essence and we had no time to lose.

I agree with Mr. Ford when he says in Shakespeare’s The Merry Wives of Windsor, “Better three hours too soon than a minute too late”...

(to be continued…)