India's Loco Project: Alstom, Siemens Race To Make 9000 HP Electric Locos In Dahod

Two rolling stock giants - Alstom and Siemens - have entered in the race to bag over Rs 20,000 crore project of manufacturing 9,000 horsepower (HP) electric locomotives at Dahod workshop.

The tenders for the Make in India loco project were floated in April inviting major rolling stock players to participate in the mega initiative of Indian Railways for which Prime Minister Narendra Modi had laid the foundation stone.

It is Indian Railways' first locomotive production unit in Gujarat and the project is expected to provide employment to thousands of people in the area.

The contract is expected to be awarded in December after technical evaluation of the participants.

While the loco is estimated to cost Rs 20 crore, there would be a total 1200 locos to be manufactured at the Dahod facility. Besides, there would be a maintenance clause of 35 years for the successful bidder.

These locomotives will play a vital role in revolutionising the freight movement in the country and help to decongest the saturated tracks by improving the average speed and loading capacity of freight trains.

The locomotive with 9,000 HP capacity will be having a haulage capacity of 4,500 tonnes of load while the maximum speed of these locomotives will be up to 120 km per hour.

The 9,000 HP locomotives will be equipped with an automatic train protection system ‘Kavach’.

The Railway expects that the first locomotive will be delivered from the factory in early 2024. The locomotive will be manufactured with the use of green energy and will have a green manufacturing tag.

Dahod is the main railway station on Delhi-Mumbai route.

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