Prime Minister Narendra Modi is all set to dedicate to the nation Gujarat’s first locomotive production unit of Indian Railways. Today, PM Modi will lay the foundation stone of the Dahod workshop to the manufacturing unit for the production of 9000 HP locomotives. These locos are equipped with Digital Tracking System (Kavach), which is an Automatic Train Protection System. These locos are to be manufactured with the use of green energy and to have green manufacturing tag. With these locos, there will be a reduction in the logistic cost and decongestion of the saturated tracks by improving the average speed and loading capacity of freight trains. The 9000 HP locomotive is capable to haul a load of 4500 tonne cargo load. Following are some salient features and benefits of this locomotive production unit:
This would be Gujarat’s first and India’s fourth Indian Railways production unit to manufacture locomotives
This upgraded unit will manufacture 1200 locomotives of 9000 Horse Power having a speed potential of 120 km per hour
This locomotive manufacturing unit will further Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision of promoting self-reliance in railway manufacturing and technology upgradation of the Indian Railways
With this locomotive production unit, the economy of Gujarat is expected to get a major boost by creation of opportunities for setting up of ancillary industrial units
It will generate 3500 direct jobs as well as 7000 indirect jobs with industrial growth in the state of Gujarat
There will be upgradation of technical skills of 1500 Indian Railways staff through training and supervision by a technological partner
In this production unit, standard gauge locomotives are to be manufactured for the international market and broad gauge locomotives for Indian Railways
The manufacturing of locos will be done under the supervision of technology partner as part of the Modi government’s ‘ Make in india’ initiative
The first locomotive is expected to turn out from the factory in the first quarter of 2024