Indian Railways has become 6th country in the world to join the elite club of producing high horse power locomotive (12000 HP) indigenously under ‘Make in India’ programme.

The locomotive manufactured by Madhepura Electric Locomotive Pvt. Ltd. (MELPL) will help to decongest the saturated tracks by improving average speed and loading capacity of freight trains

The Ministry claimed that the high horse power locomotive is operationalised on broad gauge track in the world for the first time. The locomotive made its maiden commercial run between Deen Dayal Upadhaya Station to Shivpur Monday.

“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,” the ministry said in a statement.

The ministry said that 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.

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.

“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,” it said, adding that 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,” it said.

The ministry further said that 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,” it added.

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 Government to resume operations at the Madhepura Factory putting the project back on track.

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 Cr has been invested in the project by the company,” it added.

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.