Railways inducts 100th high-speed electric locomotive

The Indian Railways on Thursday inducted its 100th 12000 HP WAG 12 B locomotive manufactured by Madhepura Electric Locomotive Pvt. Ltd. (MELPL).

"Built in one of India’s largest integrated greenfield manufacturing facilities, these are the Nation’s most powerful ‘Made-In-India’ Electric Locomotives. The locomotive has been produced under the Make in India programme," Indian Railways said in a statement.

"These WAG 12B e-Locos have already clocked over 4.8 million kilometres hauling a wide range of commodities across 17 States & 2 Union Territories," said the statement.

'"These superior electric locomotives built under the ‘Make-in-India’ initiative, are playing a key role in revolutionising the freight movement in the country. It will help to decongest the saturated tracks by allowing faster, safer and heavier freight trains to move across the country, as well as improve the loading capacity," the statement said.

So far, these e-locos have traversed across all railway divisions and are performing well. We look forward to more such delivery milestones, it said.

These locomotive are proving to be a game-changer for further movement of coal trains for the Dedicated Freight Corridor.

The Indian Railways has entered into a Procurement-cum-Maintenance Agreement with Madhepura Electric Locomotive Pvt Ltd (MELPL).

The first 12,000 HP Made in India Locomotive, manufactured by Madhepura Electric Loco Factory situated in Bihar, was put into operation by Indian Railways from Pt Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Junction Station on May 18, 2020, the statement said.