Railways operating record-breaking 9,111 trips during summer season of 2024
This marks a substantial rise compared to the summer of 2023, where a total of 6,369 trips were offered.
Indian Railways has issued the Letter of Award (LoA) for manufacturing and maintenance of 9000 HP electric freight locomotives to Siemens, India. The Railways factory at Dahod will manufacture 1200 high horsepower (9000 HP) electric locomotives over a period of 11 years. It would entail manufacturing of 1200 locomotives and maintenance of these locomotives for 35 years. The estimated value of the contract is about Rs 26000 crore (about 3.2 Billion USD), excluding taxes and price variation, said the Ministry of Railways on Saturday.
The agreement with Siemens India will be signed within 30 days of issue of LoA. The proto-type locomotives are to be delivered in the coming two years. Dahod Unit will be fully constructed for manufacturing these locomotives within a period of two years. Siemens, selected as technological partner, will manufacture these locomotives at Dahod and maintain these locomotives at four maintenance depots – Visakhapatnam, Raipur, Kharagpur, Pune for a period of 35 years utilising Railway’s Manpower.
The Ministry said that suitable economic drivers will ensure complete indigenization of the manufacturing which in turn will lead to development of ancillary manufacturing units making it a true ‘Make in India’ initiative. The project will also lead to development of the Dahod region and generate employment.
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These High HorsePower (9000 HP) locomotives will be the future workhorse for freight operation on Indian Railways. The Ministry said that these locomotives are planned for use primarily on Western DFC and on graded sections of Railways for hauling container freight trains in double stack configuration of 4500 Tonnes at 75 km/ph at 1 in 200 gradients and improve the average speed of such trains to around 50-60 km/ph over the existing 20-25 km/ph.
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