Alstom rolls out 100th e-locomotive from its Madhepura factory in Bihar

French rolling stock major Alstom has rolled out its 100th electric locomotive manufactured at its Madhepura factory in Bihar, the company said in a statement on Friday.
As part of a Rs 25,000 crore order bagged by Alstom in 2015, the company is to supply 800 e-locos to the Indian Railways over a period of 11 years.

The Madhepura Electric Locomotive Pvt. Ltd. (MELPL), in Bihar, which is a joint venture between the French major and the Indian railways holding an equity share of 74% and 26% respectively.

These high-powered locomotives are capable of hauling freight of around 6,000 tonnes at a top speed of 120 kilometres per hour.

Deployed for operations on major freight routes, including Dedicated Freight Corridors, the WAG-12B e-Locos have already clocked over close to five million kilometres hauling a wide range of commodities like coal, cement, food grains, fertilisers, petrochemical products, the company said.

“I’m pleased to mention that despite challenges posed by COVID-19, we have been able to successfully manufacture and deliver 100 e-Locos to the Indian Railways in less than a year,” Alain Spohr, Managing Director at Alstom India was quoted as saying in the statement.

“Due to the intricacy of the project, it is really an honour to work on a first-of-its-kind ‘Make in India’ project that resulted in a technology breakthrough for the nation,” Spohr added.

The project also includes setting up of two ultramodern maintenance depots in Saharanpur, Uttar Pradesh and Nagpur, Maharashtra.

These depots are 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 company said.

The depot in Saharanpur is currently operational and houses a training centre equipped with a loco simulator and smart classrooms for skill development of railway employees and loco pilots.

As per Alstom, more than 500 loco pilots from Indian Railways have been trained so far and going forward, an additional 500 will be trained annually. The Nagpur depot will be functional next year.