As part of its contract worth €3.5bn, Alstom is supplying 800 high-powered double-section locomotives of 12,000 HP (9 MW) for freight service. Designated by Indian Railways as WAG-12B, these locos are capable of hauling ~6,000-ton rakes at a top speed of 120 km/hr.
Marking the milestone delivery, the 300th e-loco was flagged off from Alstom’s locomotive maintenance depot in Nagpur, which was inaugurated by the Hon’ble PM Shri Narendra Modi in December of last year.
Shri Naresh Lalwani, general manager, Central Railway, said, “Indian Railways is undergoing a massive transformation in its freight operations and Alstom’s contribution in powering this revolution is commendable. The joint venture formed between Indian Railways and Alstom, to build India’s most powerful electric locomotives for freight service is a stellar example of a successful public private partnership model, it will play a key role in accelerating the growth of the freight sector.”
Olivier Loison, managing director of Alstom India added, “The Government of India is prioritizing reducing logistics costs in its efforts to boost the economy towards the US$5tn economy target. Indian Railways will play an important role in achieving this goal, and for that it needs to strengthen its haulage capacity. The Alstom WAG12B electric locomotive has proven to be a capability multiplier, with its ability to haul greater loads at faster speeds.”
As part of the contract, Alstom’s Nagpur Depot will be maintaining 250 WAG12B e-loco starting from series 60251. This depot is equipped with the latest technologies and features to anticipate breakdowns thereby enabling proactive maintenance of India’s most advanced freight locomotives at significantly lower costs. The depot has, for example, 12 tracks for maintenance with high-tech equipment and is equipped with a Centered Fleet monitoring (CFM) system to remotely monitor the fleet via a Health hub and Train Tracer system.
Green features at the depot include rainwater harvesting, zero discharge using an effluent treatment plant and sewerage treatment plant, 100% LED lights, daylight panels, occupancy sensors, greenery, and provisions for a 1 MW rooftop solar plant. This is the second such facility set up by Alstom, after the depot at Saharanpur, Uttar Pradesh, which houses the first 250 locomotives delivered to Indian Railways.
The WAG-12B locos are being built, meanwhile, at one of India’s largest integrated greenfield manufacturing facilities at Madhepura (Bihar), under a JV between Alstom and Indian Railways. This is the largest Foreign Direct Investment project in the Indian Railway sector. The facility has an installed production capacity of 120 locomotives per annum and Alstom has progressively achieved near 90% indigenization.