Alstom Press Release
Indian Railways starts inducting Alstom built Nation’s most powerful ‘Made-In-India’ electric locomotives
Indian Railways moves a step towards realising its goal of transforming into ‘Green Railways’
19 May 2020 – Alstom has started deliveries of the 12000 hp, WAG-12B electric locomotives to Indian Railways, which is all set to revolutionise freight logistics in the country. Built by Alstom, certified by Ministry of Railways and Commissioner of Railway Safety (RDSO), these WAG 12B engines are the highest-powered locomotives that will run on Indian rails.
Entry of WAG 12B (e-loco) will allow faster and safer movement of heavier freight trains capable to haul ~6000 tonnes at a top speed of 120 kmph. Planned to be deployed for operations on Dedicated Freight Corridors (DFCs), these e-locos will increase the average speed of freight trains in India by at least 20-25 kmph. Equipped with Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistors (IGBT) based propulsion technology, it would lead to considerable savings in energy consumption due to use of regenerative braking. Additionally, this move will not only bring down operational costs, but also reduce the congestion faced by Indian Railways. The project has a strong impetus on indigenous manufacturing with 90% localization and as per the delivery schedule, 100 locomotives will be delivered annually.
“Alstom is pleased to start delivery of the electric locomotives to Indian Railways. Commencement of induction into the IR fleet, testifies our commitment towards the country. This is a revolutionary product which will be faster, safer and eco-friendly. Also, it is scripting a new chapter for India’s sustainable mobility journey and we are happy to be partnering in this.” said Alain SPOHR, Managing Director, Alstom India & South Asia.
In line with the Make-in-India mandate, all 800 e-locos are being manufactured indigenously. Designed at Alstom’s Engineering Centre in Bengaluru, these e-locos are being built in one of India’s largest integrated greenfield manufacturing facilities at Madhepura in Bihar. Spread across 250 acres, with a production capacity of 120 locomotives per annum, the Madhepura industrial site is built to international standards of safety & quality.
Sign up for RailPost’s Telegram Group to Discuss Railways! Go here: http://telegram.me/RailPostGroup
Stay connected to RailPost! Follow us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram or Linkedin. Or join our Telegram channel. Choose your preferred options here: www.railpost.in/connect/
As per plan, two ultra-modern maintenance depots in Saharanpur and Nagpur will ensure high service availability of the locomotives. The Saharanpur depot is already functional and the Nagpur one is under construction. Equipped with ultramodern features, these depots will play a critical role in maintaining India’s most advanced freight locomotives at significantly lower costs.
About Alstom
Leading the way to greener and smarter mobility worldwide, Alstom develops and markets integrated systems that provide the sustainable foundations for the future of transportation. Alstom offers a complete range of equipment and services, from high-speed trains, metros, trams and e-buses to integrated systems, customised services, infrastructure, signalling and digital mobility solutions. Alstom recorded sales of €8.2 billion and booked orders of €9.9 billion in the 2019/20 fiscal year. Headquartered in France, Alstom is present in over 60 countries and employs 38,900 people.
About Alstom in India
Alstom has established a strong presence in India. Currently, the company is executing metro projects in several Indian cities, including Mumbai, Chennai, Kochi and Lucknow, where its supplying rolling stock manufactured out of its state-of-the-art facility in Sri City. In the mainline space, the company is executing Signalling & Power Supply Systems for the 343 Km section on World Bank funded Eastern phase of the Dedicated Freight Corridor.
Alstom, in a JV with Indian Railways is manufacturing the Nation’s most powerful electric locomotives of 12000 HP, at Madhepura, Bihar. The company will be supplying 800 units of these locomotives from this factory over the next 8 years and will also provide maintenance support through its depots in Saharanpur and Nagpur.
Alstom’s factory in Sricity builds rolling stock for Urban Metros, both for domestic as well as international (Sydney Metro) projects.
Today, Alstom employs ~5500 people in India and has 4 manufacturing facilities, located in SriCity, Coimbatore, Madhepura and Kolkata. The company has also setup its second largest Global Engineering Centre in Bengaluru. In line with Government of India’s ‘Make in India’ policy initiative, the company has been investing heavily in the country to produce world class rolling stock, components, design, research and development to serve the domestic as well as international markets.
Sign up for RailPost’s Telegram Group to Discuss Railways! Go here: http://telegram.me/RailPostGroup
Stay connected to RailPost! Follow us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram or Linkedin. Or join our Telegram channel. Choose your preferred options here: www.railpost.in/connect/
Indian Railways PIB Release
Indian Railways operationalises its most powerful 12000 HP made in India locomotive
Proud moment for Indian Railways, as it became 6th country in the world to join the elite club of producing high horse power locomotive indegenously.
It is the first time, high horse power locomotive has been operationalised on broad gauge track in the world. .
The locomotive has been produced under Make in India programme.
The locomotive has made its maiden commercial run between Deen Dayal Upadhaya Station to Shivpur on 18.05.2020
Manufactured by Madhepura Electric Locomotive Pvt. Ltd. (MELPL), locomotive operated from Pt Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Jn
These locomotives are state of the art IGBT based, 3 phase drive and 12000 horse power electric locomotive
These high horse power locomotives will help to decongest the saturated tracks by improving average speed and loading capacity of freight trains
New Delhi, 19th May 2020
First 12000 HP made in India Locomotive, manufactured by Madhepura Electric Loco Factory situated in Bihar, was put into operation by Indian Railways from Pt Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Jn Station yesterday.
New Design Locomotive at Madhepura Factory
The loco is named WAG12 with Number 60027. The train departed from Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Station at 14:08 hrs in long haul formation for Dhanbad Division of East Central Railway, consisting of 118 wagons which travelled from Pt Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Jn to Barwadih via Dehri-on-Sone, Garhwa Road.
It was a proud moment for Indian Railways, as it became 6th country in the world to join the elite club of producing high horse power locomotive indegenously. It is the first time, high horse power 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 Green Field facility built to the highest standards of quality and safety with production capacity of 120 locomotives and spread across a massive 250 acres.
Main Factory Building
These locomotives are state of art IGBT based, 3 phase drive, 9000 KW (12000 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 microwave link.
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. The locomotive has air-conditioned driver cabs on either side. The locomotive is equipped with regenerative braking system which provides substantial energy savings during operations. These high horse power locomotives will help to decongest the saturated tracks by improving average speed of freight trains.
Madhepura Electric Locomotive Pvt. Ltd. (MELPL) will manufacture 800 State of the Art 12000 HP Electric Freight Locomotives in 11 years and being one of the most power full electric locomotive in the world will increase the speed of freight trains and will allow faster, safer and heavier freight trains to move across the country, thus reducing congestion in traffic. It will also lead to considerable savings in energy consumption through re-generative braking. As part of the project, factory along with township has been set up in Madhepura, Bihar with capacity to manufacture 120 locomotives per year. The project will create more than 10,000 direct and indirect jobs in the country. More than Rs 2000 Crores has already been invested in the project by the company.
Along with the factory, socio-economic development in Madhepura is being driven by this project. As part of CSR initiative skill centres are being set up in Madhepura to impart training to local people.
It may be noted that Indian Railways entered into Procurement cum Maintenance Agreement with Madhepura Electric Locomotive Pvt. Ltd. (MELPL), as part of the largest Foreign Direct Investment project of Indian Railways to transform the heavy freight transportation landscape of the country. This is ‘Make in India’ Initiative by India Railways (IR).
The project started in 2018 and the Prime Minister of India inaugurated the project on 10th April’ 2018. The prototype locomotive was delivered in March 2018. Based on the test results having design issues, the complete locomotive including bogies has been redesigned. The new design of locomotive has been inspected by RDSO at Madhepura factory and cleared for dispatch from factory on 16th Nov’ 2019.
Further RDSO has conducted oscillation trials at various speeds upto 132 kmph and the locomotive has passed oscillation trials successfully. The locomotive has made its maiden commercial run between Deen Dayal Upadhaya Station to Shivpur on 18.05.2020. The design was completed for the whole locomotive in a record time of four to six months and despite the initial hiccups and the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, it could not dampen the spirit of August initiative of IR, surpassing all odds we could secure the permission of the Bihar Govt. to resume operations at the Madhepura Factory putting the project back on track.
The article should have at least mentioned that there is nothing technically novel about Alstom’s WAG 12 compared to two 6,000 hp WAG -9s from CLW lashed in tandem. Both the new factories at Madhepura ( Alstom ) and Marhowra ( GE –> WABTEC ) are REDUNDANT from the day they were built for political reasons, in spite of the fact that they were pushed by the Fodder Scam CRIMINAL Lalloo Prasad Yadav, who has left behind in IR a whole lot more of his brainless criminal Yadav clan. Unless these other Yadavs are purged from IR, its future will be stymied by more political decisions like Madhepura and Marhowrah.
What the IR really needs to do is to (i) modernize and expand CLW to build more electrical and electronic components ( like IGBTs which were invented in 1983 by an IITan working at GE Labs Schenectady ) for Train18 type psgr. Trainsets, put out tandem versions of WAG 9 for the freight corridors, (ii) transform DLW into a facility to convert relatively new Diesels into Dual Power mode (iii) ask Alstom to convert their Madhepura factory to build “Train 20” like Trainsets ( up to 150 may be needed ), transfer select knowhow for the WAG – 12 to CLW, (iv) persuade WABTEC to turn their new factory at Marhowrah ( made redundant by Rail Min.s sudden political decision to make IR all electric ) into transitioning into a factory to build a wide variety of Diesel Electrics for export to the rest of the world.
There is some merit in your comment. If CLW is given the resources they can make a two unit WAG9HH which will have a combined horsepower of 18000 horsepower, a start tractive effort of around 1000kN. The two extra cabs could be removed to accommodate extra components like DPWCS or better MU control. It would easily outperform a WAG-12.
Train 18 is based on my concepts outlined in Rail Business India back in 2014. Recognizing available resources and capabilities ( e,g. LHB coaches ) and combining them intelligently for novel concepts ( high speed EMU ) and new products ( Train 18 ) saves development time and expense, as was demonstrated by Mani’s team at ICF.