(WAG 12) Indian Railways Gets Its Most Powerful Engine – Free PDF Download

DETAILS

• Manufactured by French giant Alstom along with the Madhepura Electric Locomotives Pvt Ltd, capable of running at maximum 12,000 HP, joined operations of the Indian Railways

HISTORY

• Touted as the largest Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) projects of the Railways, the Ministry of Railways and Alstom came together in 2015.

2015 AGREEMENT

• An agreement worth 3.5 billion euros was signed to manufacture 800 electric locomotives for freight services and its associated maintenance.

NOTES

• These locomotives are state-of-the-art IGBT-based, 3 phase drive, 9000 KW (12000 horse power) electric locomotives. 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.
• The locomotive will be used on the Dedicated Freight Corridor (DFC) for the faster movement of goods, especially coal and iron ore.

TIMELINE

• The railway official said that the project started in 2018 and Modi inaugurated the project on April 10, 2018.
• The prototype locomotive was delivered in March 2018. Based on the test results having design issues, the complete locomotive including bogies was redesigned. The new design of locomotive has been inspected by Research Design and Standards Organisation (RDSO) at Madhepura factory and cleared for dispatch from factory in November 2019,

TIMELINE

• The WAG-12 locomotive variant called WAG-12B was approved by the railways later.
• According to the contract, the first five locomotives were to be imported while the remaining 795 was to be manufactured as part of the “Make in India” initiative. The company is expected to supply the first five locomotives in 2019, 35 in 2020, 60 in 2021 and 100 every year thereafter till the order is completed.

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