PATNA: After a long wait, the commercial movement of India's most powerful 12000HP electric locomotive, made in Bihar's Madhepura based Electrical Locomotive Pvt Ltd, was unlocked on Monday from Pt Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Junction under the East Central Railway (ECR).
With the dedication of this powerful locomotive, India has become the sixth country in the world to join an elite club of countries producing the high powerful locomotive.
According to the railway official statement issued here through the ECR, the locomotive has been named as WAG12 with number 60027. The locomotive started pulling a freight train with a composition of 118 wagons from Pt Deendayal Upadhyaya to Bardhawan junction in West Bengal via Dehari on-sone rail route.
"It is for the first time in the world that a high horsepower locomotive has been operationalised on broad gauge railway tracks. It has been manufactured at Madhepura Locomotive Factory, which is spread across 250 acres of land in Bihar with a capacity of producing 120 locomotives per year," chief spokesperson of ECR, Rajesh Kumar said quoting details of railway statement.
The Madhepura Locomotive Factory is built with the world's latest technology to make it a game-changer in the future and in the smooth running of freight trains.
The locomotive has been equipped with the high frequency of GPS to get its minute to minute location. Detailing about the salient technical features of the factory, Kumar said that the Madhepura Locomotive Factory has all the capacity of manufacturing 800 12000HP electric locomotives in next 11 years. A township has also been developed within the factory to accommodate its officials and staff with all facilities.
Spelling out the benefits from the running of this factory, Kumar said that around 10000 direct or indirect jobs would be created with the functioning of the factory.
Side by side, a skill centre under the Corporate Social Responsibility intiative is also being set up in Madhepura to impart technical training to the locals.
The project to manufacture the most powerful locomotive was started in 2018 and the first prototype locomotive was brought out in shape in March 2018. This is the first locomotive also made for the Indian Railways under the much trumpeted "make in India" program of Prime Minister of India.