First engine from Railways’ new loco plant likely to be launched in April

“This will be 89 per cent ‘Made in India’ locomotives. I just inspected the engine. It looks like a computer centre from inside. These facilities are for loco pilots. A Kavach and AC system has also been fitted in it. The biggest thing is that the toilet is inside the locomotive itself, which has been a problem with old locomotives. Final testing of the locomotive is going on and 30-40 days of work is left. About 85 per cent of the employees here are local. The railway engines made in Dahod will be exported within the next three years,” said Vaishnaw at the Dahod plant.

Currently there are around 12,000 electric locomotives used across the Indian Railways. Officials said that the factory has a target to manufacture a total of 1,200 such locomotives in 11 years.

History of Dahod plant

The new plant was announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in April 2022. These high horsepower locomotives are planned to be used primarily on the Western Dedicated Freight Corridor (WDFC) to increase the average speed of such trains to around 50-60 kmph compared with the existing 20-25 kmph. The WAG-12B is the most powerful locomotive in the Indian Railways with 12,000 horsepower. It is used for freight operations.

In December 2022, German engineering giant Siemens secured a contract for manufacturing 1,200 locomotives in Dahod and for their maintainance at four maintenance depots — Visakhapatnam, Raipur, Kharagpur, and Pune — for a period of 35 years, utilising the railway’s manpower. The estimated value of the contract is Rs 26,000 crore.

According to the Ministry of Railways, these locomotives will carry 4,500 tonnes in double stack configuration at a maximum speed of 75 kmph.

“These locomotives will have regenerative braking systems which will reduce the energy consumption. The whole initiative is part of ‘Make in India’, which will boost domestic manufacturing and self-reliance. The locomotive will enhance the line capacity. It will generate over 10,000 direct and indirect jobs. We are also collaborating with local engineering colleges for specialised training and skilled workforce,” said a senior official of the Ministry of Railways.

Key loco production units

The Indian Railways has four existing production units, namely, Diesel Locomotive Works (DLW) in Varanasi, Chittaranjan Locomotive Works (CLW) in Chittaranjan, Diesel Modernisation Works (DMW) in Patiala, and Electric Loco Assemble and Ancillary Unit (ELAAU) in Dankuni, which is a part of CLW.

DLW and DMW were diesel loco production units which started manufacturing electric locos from 2016-17 and 2018-19, respectively. The CLW and ELAAU have been manufacturing electric locos since inception.

There are two more locomotive production units — Marhowra and Madhepura in Bihar — established in public private partnership mode.