The Central Secretariat-Gurgaon Metro corridor can now boast of an automatic train washing plant at the Sultanpur depot,the highest in Asia. Owing to the limited depot area availability (58,423 sq metres),the washing plant was designed in a unique fashion and constructed at a height to suit the requirements of other facilities in the remaining space,Metro officials said. The washing plant has been strategically built on a ramp at a height of 6.7 metres from the ground level. Metro officials claim no other Metro system in Asia is known to have built such a plant on a ramp at such a height. This washing plant is designed to carry out automatic washing of the external body of the Metro trains. It washes the side walls of cars in motion with the help of vertical brushes. The water used in the process is re-circulated in the system after cleaning the train. It takes about 4 to 5 minutes for complete washing of eight cars of a Metro train, a DMRC spokesperson said. The depot has 14 stabling lines that can accommodate 28 trains (four-coaches each) at a time. Apart from this,other facilities provided in the depot include a test track,two train inspection bay lines,two shunting necks,a filtration plant with a pump-house and bore well and an electric sub-station to meet its power requirements. Constructed at a cost of Rs 45 crore,the facility will serve as a maintenance depot for the Central Secretariat to Gurgaon (HUDA City Centre) Metro corridor. Construction work for the depot began in July 2008 and the depot is now almost ready to provide services.
