India’s Fastest Electric Loco Inaugurated; Govt. Puts Brake On Rs 78K Cr Signalling Plan!

Two very interesting developments have happened in the Indian Railways, which will have far-reaching consequences.

India’s fastest electric locomotive will now run on the tracks, which elevates India’s position in the global railways’ map, and makes us as one of the few countries with such high-speed electric loco.

At the same time, PM Modi has scrapped a massive electric signalling plan for Indian Railways, which was supposed to be a Rs 78,000 crore budget.

We will soon share the reasons.

India’s Fastest Electric Loco Will Now Join Service!

As of now, the most powerful electric locomotive which Indian Railways had was of 6000 horsepower (HP).

But now, electric loco of 12,000 HP has been introduced, which will run at a speed of 120 km per hour.

PM Modi is right now inaugurating this powerful loco, which will start its debut from Bihar’s Madhepura loco factory.

As of now, only these 4 countries have such powerful electric loco:

1. Russia
2. China
3. Germany
4. Sweden

Hence, India now joins this elite list of countries.

This new 12000 HP electric loco has been arranged in collaboration with French rolling stock giant Alstom, which is a joint FDI venture.

In the next 11 years, 800 such high horsepower electric locos would be arranged, at an expense of Rs 20,000 crore. Next year onwards, Madhepura facility will start manufacturing these locos, under Make in India mission.

Govt Of India Says No To Rs 78K Cr Signalling Project

As we all know, Indian Railways still depends on manual signalling system, which is prone to accidents as human error can occur anytime.

Last month, we had reported about a massive Rs 78,000 crore signalling program, which would have revamped the entire signalling system, and introduced satellite-based signalling system, which can make accidents negligible.

However, PM Modi has said a big no to this ambitious project.

India was planning to implement European Train Control System-Level 2 signalling system, which works on GPS, directly connected with satellites. However, as per PM, without testing this advanced technology for Indian conditions, it is not wise to approve this project.

As per Indian Express,

“Modi is learnt to have raised the cost factor as well as the wisdom of rolling out en masse a technology that is untested for Indian conditions and is mainly commissioned in high-speed systems in some global railways.”

Now, PM Modi has asked Indian Railways to test this signalling system on high traffic routes and to develop such system internally. As of now, only Siemens, Thales, Alstom, Bombardier, Ansaldo, STS, CAF, and Memec Group can implement this GPS-based signalling system.

We will keep you updated, as we receive more information.