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The Prime Minister flags off India’s first electric locomotive in Madhepura, Bihar.
What Is It?
This will be India’s first 12,000 horsepower (HP) electric locomotive joining the elite list of other countries like Russia, China, Sweden and Germany which also have the 12,000 HP and above capacity electric locomotives.
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The project was the first big Make-in-India project which was completed by France’s Alstom. According to the contract agreement, about 35 locos will be manufactured at the Madhepura facility in Bihar in the next fiscal year and thereafter, the factory will produce 100 locos every year till the target of 800 is reached in over 11 years. The first 5 locomotives will be imported while others will be manufactured in the country itself.
What’s In It?
With an average cost of one high-speed locomotive being around ₹25 crore, it is the country’s most powerful engine at a maximum speed of 120 km per hour. Till now, the most powerful engine in the country was of 6,000 HP.
The heavy-haulage locos will be used to transport coal and iron ore, it is equipped with an insulated-gate bipolar transistor (IGBT)- based propulsion technology. These electric locomotives shape in line for the PM’s and Indian Railways’ target of 100 percent electrification to aim for sustainable mobility. They will not only cut down on the operating cost for the railways, but also bring a significant difference on greenhouse gas emissions as well.
The high-speed electric trains will be the result of clearing out saturated routes and decongest the traffic on most routes.
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