Indian Railway presently uses diesel and electric locomotives. Steam locomotives were used in India a few years ago but now they are used only for the heritage trains. A locomotive is also called loco or engine. In this article, today we are discussing about manufacturing factories of Indian Locomotives.
1. Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL)
Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL) owned and founded by the Government of India, is an engineering and manufacturing company based in New Delhi, India. Established in 1964, BHEL is India's largest power plant equipment manufacturer.
The company has supplied thousands of Electric Locomotives, DE Locomotives, Electric Multiple Units, Track Maintenance Machines to Indian Railway. BHEL-made WAG7 of Erode Loco shed hauling freight.
2. Chittaranjan Locomotive Works, Chittaranjan
Chittaranjan Locomotive Works is a state-owned electric locomotive manufacturer based in India. It is located at Chittaranjan in Asansol. It is one of the largest locomotive manufacturers in the world. Chittaranjan Locomotive Works has supplied many types of locomotives.
Locomotives:
WAP-7 : 6350 hp, 25 kV AC, Broad Gauge (B.G.), passenger locomotive, 140 km/hr, 3-phase technology.
WAP-5 : 5400 hp, 25 kV AC, Broad Gauge (B.G.), passenger locomotive, 160 km/hr / 200 km/hr, 3-phase technology.
WAG-9 : 6350 hp, 25 kV AC, Broad Gauge (B.G.), freight locomotive,100 km/hr, 3-phase technology.
WAG-7 : 5000 hp, 25 kV AC, Broad Gauge (B.G.), 1.676 m, freight locomotive, 120 km/hr, Tap changer/DC Traction Motor technology.
WAP-4 : 5350 hp, 25 kV AC, Broad Gauge (B.G.), 1.676 m, passenger locomotive, Max. Operating speed 140 km/hr, Tap changer/DC Traction Motor technology.
Traction Motors:
I 3-PHASE TRACTION MOTOR TYPE 6FRA6068 & 6FXA 7059: 3-Phase Trcation Motors type 6FRA6068 for WAG-9 and WAP-7 locomotives & 6FXA7059 for WAP-5 locomotive are being manufactured indigenously by CLW since the financial year 1998-99 & 1999-2000 respectively. With the production of 3-phase Traction Motor, CLW has entered the era of state of the art, 3-phase technology.
II HITACHI TRACTION MOTOR TYPE HS15250A: Hitachi traction Motor is one of the most critical and vital equipments in conventional Electric locomotives type WAG-7 & WAP-4 under production at CLW. The production of Hitachi TM is now completely stabilized.
3. Diesel Locomotive Works, Varanasi
The Diesel Locomotive Works (DLW) in Varanasi, India, is a production unit owned by Indian Railways, that manufactures diesel-electric locomotives and its spare parts. Founded in 1961, the DLW rolled out its first locomotive three years later, on 3 January 1964. It is the largest diesel-electric locomotive manufacturer in India.
DLW locomotives have power outputs ranging from 2,600 horsepower (1,900 kW) to 5,500 horsepower (4,100 kW). Currently DLW is producing EMD GT46MAC and EMD GT46PAC locomotives under license from Electro-Motive Diesels (formerly GM-EMD) for Indian Railways. Some of its EMD locomotive products are WDP4, WDP4D, WDG4D, WDG5 and others as of June 2015.
4. Diesel-Loco Modernisation Works, Patiala
Diesel-Loco Modernisation Works formerly Diesel Component Works, is located in Patiala in the Indian state of Punjab. It was set up in the year 1981 to extend the service life of Diesel Locomotives of the Indian Railways and significantly raise the level of their availability.
Remanufacture of critical assemblies for the unit exchange system of the Diesel Locomotives maintenance system of the Railways.
Rebuilding Locomotives and power packs and turning them out in state- of-the-art condition. Retrofitting the locomotives with systems incorporating latest technological development in this process.
5. Golden Rock Railway Workshop, Tiruchirapalli
The Golden Rock Railway Workshop is situated in Ponmalai (Golden Rock), Tiruchirapalli in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, is one of the three mechanical railway workshops serving the southern zone of the Indian Railways. This repair workshop is basically a "Mechanical Workshop" which comes under the control of the Mechanical Department of the Indian Railways.
6. Electric Locomotive Factory, Madhepura
The Electric Locomotive Factory Madhepura is a joint venture of Alstom SA of France with Indian Railways for the production of 800 high-power locomotives over a period of 11 years designed to run on Indian tracks at 120 km per hour.
In November 2015, the Ministry of Railways awarded the contracts for Madhepura project and Marhowra project to Alstom and General Electric respectively in a collective amount of USD 6 billion. This multi crore rupees deal was seen as the country's first FDI in the railway sector.
Under the Joint Venture of Indian Railways and Alstom, the factory is scheduled to manufacture and supply 800 electric locomotives of 12000 HP within a period of 11 years. The basic cost of 800 locomotives will be about INR 19000 crore rupees.
7. Rail Wheel Factory, Bangalore
Rail Wheel Factory (RWF) is a manufacturing unit of Indian Railways, producing wheels, axles and wheel sets of railroad wagons, coaches and locomotives for the use of Indian Railways and overseas customers is situated at Yelahanka, Bangalore in the Indian state of Karnataka. It was commissioned in 1984 to manufacture wheels and axles for the Indian Railways.
Rail Coach Factory in India
1. Rail Coach Factory, Kapurthala
Rail Coach Factory at Kapurthala in the Indian state of the Punjab is located on the Jalandhar-Firozpur line. It has manufactured more than 30000 passenger coaches of different types including Self Propelled passenger vehicles which constitute over 50% of the total population of coaches on Indian Railways.
The Rail Coach Factory (RCF) has produced record number of coaches in the financial year 2013-14, as it reached the mark of 1701 coaches against installed capacity of 1500 per annum. During the year RCF produced 23 different variants of coaches for high-speed trains like Rajdhani, Shatabdi, double decker and other trains.
2. Integral Coach Factory, Chennai
Integral Coach Factory (ICF) is a manufacturer of rail coaches located in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. It was established in 1952, is owned and operated by the Indian Railways.
The Integral Coach Factory consists of two main divisions - shell division and furnishing division. The shell division manufactures the skeleton of the rail coach, while the furnishing division is concerned with the coach interiors and amenities. ICF manufactures more than 170 varieties of coach including first and second class coaches, pantry and kitchen cars, luggage and brake vans, self-propelled coaches, electric (EMU), diesel (DMU) and mainline electric multiple units (MEMU), metro coaches and diesel electric tower cars, accident relief medical vans (ARMV), inspection cars (RA), fuel test cars, track recording cars and luxury coaches. A total of 50,000 coaches had been produced till 18 Aug 2015 by ICF since its inception.
3. Modern Coach Factory, Raebareli
Modern Coach Factory, Raebareli is a rail coach manufacturing unit of the Indian Railways at Lalganj near Raebareli in Uttar Pradesh. The factory is the third facility in India that produces railway compartments.
The factory is expected to manufacture 1000 Linke Holfmann Busch (LHB) coaches annually. Anubhuti coaches, which are state of the art LHB coaches featuring ergonomically designed cushioned seats, LCD screens, modular toilets and stylish interiors, announced in the Railway Budget of 2013 are to be produced at the Rae Bareli coach factory. These coaches will progressively be introduced on the Shatabdi and Rajdhani Express trains.