The first 12,000 HP made in India locomotive, manufactured by Madhepura Electric Loco Factory in Bihar, has been put into operation by Indian Railways from Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Junction.
The loco is named WAG12 with Number 60027. The train departed from Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Station at 2:08 pm on Tuesday in long haul formation for Dhanbad Division of East Central Railway and consisting of 118 wagons, which travelled from Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Station to Barwadih via Dehri-on-Sone, Garhwa Road, read an official statement.
India has become the sixth country in the world to join the elite club of producing high horsepower locomotive indigenously. It is the first time that high horsepower locomotive has been operationalised on broad gauge track in the world.
The locomotive has been produced under Make in India programme. The Madhepura factory is the largest integrated greenfield facility built to the highest standards of quality and safety with production capacity of 120 locomotives and spread across a massive 250 acres, said the statement.
These locomotives are state-of-the-art IGBT based, three-phase drive, 9000 KW (12,000 horse-power) electric locomotive. The locomotive is capable of maximum tractive effort of 706 kN, which is capable of starting and running a 6000 T train in the gradient of 1 in 150.
"The locomotive with twin Bo-Bo design having 22.5 T (tonnes) axle load is upgradable to 25 tonnes with design speed of 120 kmph. This locomotive will be a game-changer for further movement of coal trains for Dedicated Freight Corridor. The locomotives can be tracked through GPS for its strategic use through embedded software and Antennae being lifted through the servers on ground through a microwave link," the statement said.
The locomotive is capable of working on railway tracks with conventional OHE lines as well as on Dedicated Freight Corridors with high rise OHE lines. It has air-conditioned driver cabs on either side, and is equipped with regenerative braking system which provides substantial energy savings during operations. These high horsepower locomotives will help to decongest the saturated tracks by improving the average speed of freight trains.
The Madhepura Electric Locomotive Pvt. Ltd. (MELPL) will manufacture 800 state-of the-art 12,000 HP electric freight locomotives in 11 years. It will also lead to considerable savings in energy consumption through re-generative braking.
( With inputs from ANI )