Within the framework of implementing the directives of President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, to continuously develop the railway system to provide the highest levels of service to the passenger public, Lieutenant General Engineer Kamel El-Wazir – Minister of Transport conducted an important inspection tour of the workshop of the Egyptian Company for Maintenance and Railway Services, Irmas, which specializes in the maintenance, renewal and rehabilitation of all tractors operating on railway lines.
This comes within the framework of the continuous follow-up of the technical insurance systems, maintenance, repair and development work for the railway sector and the efforts made to implement the state’s plan to localize specialized industries and local production of operating requirements and necessary spare parts. He was received by Engineer Wagdy Radwan, Deputy Minister of Transport for Railways and Electric Traction, Engineer Mohamed Amer, Chairman of the National Railway Authority of Egypt, Major General Engineer Mohamed Abdel Latif, President of Irmas Company, and a number of the authority’s leaders.
The tour included an inspection of operations and body repair workshops – traction motor overhaul – lifting and installation – engine overhaul – generator overhaul and spark plug overhaul.
The Minister of Transport witnessed maintenance and rehabilitation work for a number of tractors within the company, as the company completed maintenance work for 39 tractors as part of a maintenance project to renew and rehabilitate 41 EMD tractors. Complete maintenance and overhaul work was carried out on them. The company is also currently preparing for a project to develop and modify 100 Henschel tractors in cooperation with the American company PRL. The Minister also inspected a number of production workshops. During his tour, the Minister saw a number of modern equipment such as CNC boring equipment for rehabilitating traction motor bodies and engine bodies in addition to To a number of spare parts that were produced locally within the workshop and in cooperation with local companies, such as spark plugs, tires, brake mechanisms, air tanks, some gears for diesel engines, grease cans for traction motors, and other parts.
Lieutenant General Engineer Kamel Al-Wazir Ali stressed the necessity of continuing to make all efforts to carry out maintenance and repair work for tractors in accordance with high quality standards, pointing out the Ministry of Transport’s keenness to develop IRMAS workshops during the last period, within the framework of the comprehensive plan to develop all workshops nationwide and support them with the latest equipment and devices, as IRMAS has become one of the most important pillars of the technical insurance system and conducting tractor overhauls within the authority, stressing that its role is not limited to comprehensive technical overhaul work, but extends to include the manufacture of many necessary spare parts locally. In addition to maintaining and repairing cranes.
The Minister pointed out the great importance of continuous maintenance work for the equipment and tractors, and that all welding and painting work for the tractors be carried out with high quality, and the necessity of not leaving any tractor from the workshops until after verifying its technical condition, which will reflect positively on the service provided to the passenger public.
The Minister of Transport also stressed the importance of continuing to make all efforts to increase production and expand the manufacturing of spare parts components and localize the industries feeding railways in line with the state’s plan in this framework, and in a way that contributes to raising the operational efficiency of tractors and increasing their readiness rate, to ensure the continuity and safety of train movement throughout the republic. Pointing to the importance of the work of the spare parts management committee, which consists of the specialized workshop engineer, the specialized foreman, and the financial affairs official, and that the spare parts are original. The Minister also stressed the necessity of pushing young engineers into the workshop to create new generations of engineers specialized in technical support for tractors, noting that the coming period will witness continued visits to all railway workshops within the framework of following up on the implementation of the comprehensive plan to develop the workshops, which includes the development of (33) workshops (their development has been completed), and the establishment of a number (11) new workshops, a number of which have been completed, and a number of (3) workshops are being completed, considering that the development of technical insurance and workshops is one of the (7) axes in developing the railway system, which includes (development of mobile units – development of infrastructure – development of communications, command and control systems – development of technical insurance and workshops – upgrading of the human element – development of the organizational structure -) development of the financial structure.
Irmas Company is one of the companies affiliated with the National Railway Authority of Egypt, with a total area of approximately 27 acres and containing the largest major workshops specialized in maintaining, refurbishing and rehabilitating tractors, with an average monthly production of 12-15 tractors for general overhaul, in addition to 10 tractors for repairing faults and accidents, and employing more than 1,588 workers, technicians and engineers.
