Railways' freight ops get a booster as govt approves Alstom's locomotive to run at 120 kmph

New Delhi: In a significant boost to freight movement through rail, the government has approved French rolling stock manufacturer Alstom’s 12000 horsepower locomotive to run freight trains at a maximum speed of 120 kilometres per hour.
The locomotive was given a go-ahead by the ministry of railways and its testing agency Research Design and Standards Organisation (RDSO), Alstom said in a statement on Wednesday.

Earlier this year, Indian Railways began inducting the WAG 12B e-locos, the most powerful locomotives to run on Indian tracks. Cumulatively, these electric locomotives have already clocked over 1 million kilometres.

The locomotives are to be deployed on the dedicated freight corridor which is set to be complete by June 2022. The average speed of freight trains in India is expected to almost double as a result of these locomotives, Alstom said. Freight trains generally clock an average speed of 25 kmph.

However, with the suspension of passenger train operations amid the Covid-19 outbreak, freight trains have been clocking an average speed of 45-50 kmph since the past couple of months.

These electric locos will allow faster and safer movement of heavier freight trains capable to haul around 6000 tonnes at a top speed of 120 kmph, Alstom said.

“In line with India’s push towards self-reliance, we have successfully leveraged our local engineering and manufacturing capabilities,” Alain Spohr, Managing Director, Alstom India and South Asia, was quoted as saying in the statement.

The technology used in the e-locomotive will lead to considerable savings in energy consumption, besides bringing down operational costs for the national transporter, Spohr said.

“The technology is also helpful towards making the acceleration process more efficient by reducing the heat generation and traction noise,” he added.

Alstom in 2015 bagged a Rs 20,000 crore order for supplying 800 high-power electric locomotives, and its manufacturing facility in Madhepura, Bihar, which is a joint venture with the Indian Railways, remains the largest foreign direct investment in the country’s railway sector.