(FE)
In a fillip to ‘Make in India’ and Indian Railways aim to move towards environment-friendly methods, state-run BHEL recently flagged of its first electric locomotive. State-run engineering major Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL) flagged off its first 6,000 HP electric locomotive from its Jhansi plant in Uttar Pradesh, expanding its footprint in the transportation sector. A company statement said that as part of its diversification initiatives, BHEL has flagged off of its first 6,000 HP electric locomotive (Type WAG-9H). BHEL has manufactured the 6,000 HP locomotive against an order from the Railway Board for 30 locomotives for Indian Railways.
Interestingly, the public sector firm has created a dedicated centre for research and development in transportation technology as well as manufacturing facilities at Jhansi (Uttar Pradesh), Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh) and Bengaluru (Karnataka) plants. Over the years, the public sector company, BHEL has been supplying electric locomotives as well as diesel locomotives, EMUs, propulsion system sets and drives to Indian Railways. Till last year, the company had supplied 360 electric locomotives of various ratings to the national transporter apart from more than 370 Diesel Electric Shunting Locomotives to various industries, the statement further added.
