Railways to procure 200 high HP electric locos for DFC

Gearing up for hauling maximum loadings in the upcoming dedicated freight corridor (DFC), the railways have decided to procure 200 high horse power (HP) electric locomotives including import of 40 locos from Japan.

In addition to its 6000 HP locomotives, the national transporter will acquire 9000 HP electric engines to increase its haulage capacity.

"We will procure 200 high HP electric locomotives for the DFC, out of which 40 will be imported from Japan as the requirement is to increase the carrying capacity substantially. The rest will be manufactured in the country", said a senior Railway Ministry official.

The carrying capacity will increase to 6000 tons per locomotive from the existing 5000 tons capacity.

It is estimated to cost about Rs 20 cr per 9000 HP locomotive. At present it costs about Rs 14 cr for the 6000 HP loco.

"The import of locomotives from Japan is as per the Japanese loan condition since the western corridor of the DFC is being funded by JICA," the official informed.

Adding further he said, "The rest of the locomotives will be assembled in India with technology and components from Japan." The procurement process of modern locomotives is to begin shortly as part of the DFC, which is likely to be operational in the next three years.

The 3373 km long DFC, the flagship project of the railways, aims to augment the rail transport capacity to meet the growing requirement of movement of goods by segregating freight from passenger traffic.

The Western DFC (1534 km) will be from Jawaharlal Nehru Port (JNPT) in Mumbai to Tughlakabad and Dadri near Delhi and would cater largely to the container transport requirements between the existing and emerging ports in Maharashtra and Gujarat and the northern hinterland.

The Eastern DFC will be from Ludhiana in Punjab to Dankuni (1839 km) near Kolkata to be extended in the future to serve the new deep sea port proposed in Kolkata area and will largely serve coal and steel traffic.

Railways is setting up an electric locomotive depot with maintenance facility at Rewari for the DFC on a 20 acre land as it is crucial for DFC operation, the spokesman added.