Alstom will deliver 10 WAG 12 type locos to Indian Railway this fiscal. This number will increase to 90 next fiscal and 100 per annum thereon.
Alstom had delivered prototype locomotive in March 2018. Based on the test results, Alstom redesigned the complete locomotive including bogies. The new design of locomotive has been inspected by RDSO at Madhepura factory and cleared for dispatch.
Such High Horse Power locomotives are not being tested on broad gauge network in the world by any Railways.
Benefits
IR decided to procure 12,000 horsepower twin Bo-Bo design Locomotive with 22.5 T (Tonnes) axle load upgradable to 25 Tonnes with a design speed of 120 kmph.
This locomotive will be useful for movement of coal/iron ore trains on the Dedicated Freight Corridor. It will haul 6,000T trains at maximum speed of100 kmph.
With 100 per cent electrification, the new locomotive will bring down the operational cost for Railways, besides enabling de-congestion.
The loco factory along with township in Madhepura, Bihar was set up at an investment of Rs 2,000 crore. Its annual manufacturing capacity is 120 locomotives.
The project will create over 10,000 direct and indirect jobs in the country.
One maintenance depot has already been established in Saharanpur. Work on the second depot is slated to start at Nagpur.
More than 300 Engineers from India and France are working in Bangalore, Madhepura and France on this Project. The first loco has been assembled in Madhepura and in two years time, more than 90 per cent parts will be manufactured in India.
This IR-Alstom JV, called Madhepura Electric Locomotive Pvt. Ltd or MELPL in short, was signed in 2015. It is worth Euro 3.5 billion and the contract is to manufacture and maintain 800 locos.