Railways Started the Operation of 12000 HP Rail Engine Manufactured in Madhepura
Highlights
• India becomes the sixth country in the world to manufacture 12000 horsepower engines.
• For the first time in the world, such an engine operated on a broad gauge track.
• Construction was done at Madhepura rail factory in Bihar under ‘Make in India’.
• Speed of 120 km per hour, speed and capacity of goods trains will be better.
The 12,000 horsepower WAG 12B engine built at Madhepura in Bihar ran from East Central Railway’s Pandit Dindayal Upadhyay Division in Uttar Pradesh to Dhanbad Division in Jharkhand. With this, India’s name got included in the list of countries including Russia, China, France, Germany and Sweden, which own electric rail engines with a capacity of 12,000 horsepower or more. This engine is named WAH12 and its number is 60027. The train which ran from Deendayal Upadhyay at 02:08 pm went to Dehri-on-Son, Garhwa Road to Bairadih. There were 118 coaches on this train. For the first time in the world, the engine of high horsepower has been operated on the broad gauge track.
Madhepura locomotive factory produced this engine under ‘Make in India’
This engine has been produced under ‘Make in India’ initiative. The 250-acre Madhepura factory is the largest integrated Greenfield facility built with the highest standards of quality and safety with a production capacity of 120 engines. This manufacturing is in terms of realizing Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s dream of ‘Make in India’. The attainment of 12000 HP first powerful and capable of a high-speed locomotive is an important achievement for Indian Railways. These locomotives are state-of-the-art IGBT-based, 3 phase drive, nine thousand kW (12000 horsepower). They also have GPS (Global Positioning System), with which they can be tracked anywhere. Indian Railways had the most capable railway engine of 6,000 horsepower so far.
12,000 horsepower engine has been made in collaboration with a French company
Formed by a joint venture with the investment of French company Alstom, this rail engine produced at Madhepura is capable of heavy lifting at a maximum speed of 120 kilometres per hour. This newly built rail engine will improve the speed of freight trains and their freight capacity. The cost of one engine produced at Madhepura Rail Factory, which manufactures electric rail engines, is being stated to be around Rs 25 crore.
Depots set up in UP and Maharashtra for engine maintenance
Two railway engine maintenance depots have been set up at Saharanpur in Uttar Pradesh and Nagpur in Maharashtra for maintenance of new engines. Railways have spent a total of Rs 1,300 crore on these projects. There is the facility to keep the manufactured electric engines in these depots. In November 2015, an agreement was signed between India and France regarding the rail engine factory. This is the first FDI in Indian Railways.
Engine speed will not decrease even in fog
The special feature of this engine manufactured in the Madhepura Rail Engine Factory is its ability to maintain high speed even in the fog. In a short time, goods can be transported from one place to another.
The speed of freight transport will accelerate
At present, 6000 horsepower electric engines are being used in the country. It can pull coaches at an average speed of only 50 km. With the new powerful engine, the goods train will be able to run on the track at a speed of 120 kmph. The engine with a capacity of 12,000 horsepower will be able to run the train at a speed of 200 kmph. Also, at present, to increase the speed of many trains running in hilly areas, two engines have to be used. This new engine will be able to work with one engine instead of two.