Rlys: Procurement process for high-powered locos gets traction

Aiming at the procurement and production of 1,000 high-powered electric locomotives for its Dedicated Freight Corridor operations, the railways has kickstarted the process to award contracts for the same with the projects to involve its existing Dankuni unit and the proposed Madhepura factory.
There will be 200 electric locomotives of 9,000 horsepower (HP) each that are to be produced at its Dankuni unit in West Bengal, Railway Member (Electrical) Navin Tandon said here today, adding that these engines are required for the Western Dedicated Freight Corridor.
Since the Western DFC is funded by Japan, a Japanese firm will be selected through the bidding process on June 30 for the Dankuni project, he said.

The tender stipulates that 40 locomotives will be imported from Japan, while the rest are to be manufactured in India.
The 1,483-km long Western DFC will extend from Jawaharlal Nehru Port (JNPT) in Mumbai to Tughlakabad and Dadri near Delhi while the 1,839-km long Eastern DFC will connect Ludhiana in Punjab to Dankuni near Kolkata.
The eastern corridor is expected to handle double-stack container movement.

"We have also floated global tenders for setting up a modern locomotive factory at Madhepura for manufacturing 800 locos of 12,000 HP each. These will be required in the Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor," he said.

Bidding process for the Madhepura project, which is to be a joint venture, is expected to be over by the year-end and 100 locos will be manufactured in the first year of the operation of the factory.
Meanwhile, Tandon also said that steps are being taken to procure 15 EMU-type train sets for inter-city connectivity.
A train set comprises coaches or railway cars where each coach is powered by a dedicated propulsion system. That means there is no locomotive required to haul the train.
While 40 coaches will be imported, 275 coaches will be manufactured here, he said.