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50th high speed 12,000 hp locomotive delivered by Alstom https://www.livemint.com/news/india/...sion=true&s=08
It is really heartening to see good old Indian Railways modernizing in full form in this decade after almost 40 years of stagnation. As a teenager I had my sights set on the railways but fate had another form of transportation in mind for me :-)
Quite a sight when a locomotive is coming in for a halt at a railway station, composed and majestic, pulling all the bogies, as hundreds of people are impatiently waiting. Locomotives and trains have always fascinated me.
Read up on how locomotives are able to pull tonnes of weight, as well as regarding their FE, after seeing this.
Came across this interesting documentary on the Alstom WAG 12 depot. Not sure if we can call this a loco shed or not? The documentary is in Hindi but still someone who is interested in these mighty engines, should love this one. Shows how these engines are maintained by Alstom and the automation in the whole process.
https://youtu.be/7PA2AD0W-ko
Quote:
Originally Posted by V.Narayan
(Post 4949441)
50th high speed 12,000 hp locomotive delivered by Alstom
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I'd like to know the local content of these locomotives (if at all there is any). We have been building locomotives for decades; why did we have to import technology yet another time? Have we learnt nothing over the decades?
Alstom Delivers 300 E-Locomotives to Indian Railways https://swarajyamag.com/infrastructu...m-nagpur-depot
Alstom has successfully delivered 300 electric locomotives to the Indian Railways, achieving a significant milestone. these are 12,000 hp engines. :-)
This is expected to increase the Indian Railways' capabilities to haul heavy freight trains at high speed, to meet its ambitious loading targets of 3,000 million tonnes (MT) by 2030.
This is so very heartening at the change of direction by the good old IR. For 60 years we followed a policy that only the IR could make its own equipment be it rolling stock or engines and as a consequence technology got stuck in the 1950s and 60s. In automobile terms we were monopolized by the Premier Padmini's and Ambassadors till a decade back. And now the IR seems to be on a sincere effort to modernize. I suspect that a great mountain needs to be crossed to clean up the bureaucracy and de-layer the organization and its silo way of working and retrain customer facing staff in customer service.
Quote:
Originally Posted by itwasntme
(Post 5524468)
On a sad note, a particularly brutal head-on involving a WAG-12 & 2 x WDG-4s in Sultanpur last month:
[url]https://m.timesofindia.com/city/lucknow/goods-trains-collide-in-sultanpur-no-casualties
I'm sure IR & Alstom will dissect this event to see if any changes need to be made.
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This was my grandfather's worst nightmare operating the WDM2 particularly in short- hood( long haul) . The loco pilot had zero protection. He said the steam loco was safer from that perspective.
Quote:
Originally Posted by fhdowntheline
(Post 5524997)
This was my grandfather's worst nightmare operating the WDM2 particularly in short- hood( long haul) . The loco pilot had zero protection. He said the steam loco was safer from that perspective.
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Thank you for sharing this interesting piece. What is the meaning of the phrase highlighted in bold by me. Thanks.
Quote:
Originally Posted by fhdowntheline
(Post 5524997)
This was my grandfather's worst nightmare operating the WDM2 particularly in short- hood( long haul) . The loco pilot had zero protection. He said the steam loco was safer from that perspective.
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But if you notice, the cabins of both the EMD and the ALSTOM has no intrusion. The ALSTOM is one step ahead and the loco's have telescoped, which I think is by design and prevented the rake behind it from derailing or buckling.
Quote:
Originally Posted by V.Narayan
(Post 5525033)
Thank you for sharing this interesting piece. What is the meaning of the phrase highlighted in bold by me. Thanks.
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The ALCO's had the cab to one side and not at either ends like the EMD loco's or Electric ones. When driving with the long hood in front was called LHF or long hood forward and the SHF when the other shorter side is in front. The disadvantage of LHF was that the heat of the engine and smoke from the exhaust was on the drivers and visibility is limited on curves.
This was one of the reasons the later EMD's were manufactured with a second cab at the long hood end which was something that DLW did and not an actual EMD design.
Easier to illustrate as below.
On a related note, Siemens recently won a similar large contract for building locos by beating Alstom with a quote that's nearly 50% lower!! Most of these new mega contracts are structured to require companies like Alstom and Siemens to setup local facilities to manufacture and service the locos.
https://www.urbantransportnews.com/n...ndian-railways Siemens wins ₹13,177 crore contract for supply of 1200 E-Locomotives to Indian Railways
Quote:
As per the financial bid results, Siemens Ltd emerged as the lowest bidder by beating Alstom Transport India Ltd by quoting Rs 13,777.2 crore amount against Alstom's Bid Rs 23,362.93 crores. The financial position of both bidders is as under:-
Siemens Ltd: Rs 13,777.20 crore (Rs 10.98 crore per unit) - L1
Alstom Transport India Ltd: Rs 23,362.93 crore (Rs 19.47 crore per unit) - L2
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Quote:
Originally Posted by itwasntme
(Post 5524468)
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Oh God, looks bad. How did it happen?
The WAG12 seems to have suffered much more damage than the WDG4. Any idea why?
Quote:
Originally Posted by tharian
(Post 5525085)
But if you notice, the cabins of both the EMD and the ALSTOM has no intrusion. The ALSTOM is one step ahead and the loco's have telescoped, which I think is by design and prevented the rake behind it from derailing or buckling.
The ALCO's had the cab to one side and not at either ends like the EMD loco's or Electric ones. When driving with the long hood in front was called LHF or long hood forward and the SHF when the other shorter side is in front. The disadvantage of LHF was that the heat of the engine and smoke from the exhaust was on the drivers and visibility is limited on curves.
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Just to add, from what I remember my grandfather saying, short hood was used for long haul routes and long hood was used for short haul routes ( shuttle type routes).
Quote:
Originally Posted by fhdowntheline
(Post 5525307)
Just to add, from what I remember my grandfather saying, short hood was used for long haul routes and long hood was used for short haul routes ( shuttle type routes).
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Not Entirely, My LP friend says LHF will result in reduced MPS in Konkan & certain other areas, resulting in time lost. MPS reduction is due to restricted view of the tracks. WR at one point of time had capped all LHF EMD's to 105 KMPH (irrespective of the time)
PUNE & MLY (Moula Ali Near Hyderabad) has master's degree when it comes to MUing in a wrong way. (LH- SH or SH- SH) coupling and create further tensions to the LP/ALP combo.
MU- Multiple Units - Process where 2 locos connected together with an Electrical Cables so that both can work as same unit. MU results in Higher Power, Lower Fuel consumption, High Tractive Effort (TE), Less Section clearance times. Normally all 20+ coached Mail/ express gets MU diesel engines in Unelectrified sections. (exceptions are there though)
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