Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor: Indigenous Locos Grace Opening Run On Bhaupur-Khurja

Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor: The first fully operational section of the Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor - the Bhaupur – Khurja section, was inaugurated on Tuesday, December 29, where Indian Railways' indigenous Alstom's WAG 12 e-locomotive was flagged off for the opening run on the new freight corridor. Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the 351 km long section of the eastern dedicated freight corridor (EDFC) and the operating control centre (OCC), situated at Prayagraj, through video conference yesterday. Two fully loaded freight trains hauled by Alstom's WAG 12 indigenous e-locomotives, each carrying more than 10,00 tonnes of coal and food grains, graced the opening run on the Bhaupur – Khurja section of the EDFC. (Also Read: Biggest FDI In Indian Railways: India Becomes Sixth Country To Produce Indigenous Locos )

Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor's New Bhaupur-New Khurja section - Top Features:

• It has a 351 km long track and has been built at a cost of Rs 5750 crore
• Tracks have been tested to carry heavy loads at speeds of 100 km per hour
• The freight corridor will open new avenues for freight transport
• Multimodal logistic hubs are likely to come up with the freight service
• The section will also improve the connectivity of the dairy and industrial sector
• It will increase the speed of goods trains and decongest the Kanpur-Delhi rail line

Objectives:

• The freight corridor aims to reduce the cost of transportation
• It aims to connect the ports with industrial areas
• It also targets to facilitate heavy haul trains and double stack containers
• It aims to increase the rail share of goods transport to 45 per cent

Operations Control Centre at Prayagraj:

• The operation control centre inaugurated at Prayagraj is one of the world's largest centres for railways and is built by Alstom. The OCC will be the nerve-center of the entire eastern dedicated freight corridor. 
• The control centre will monitor train movements from Kolkata to Ludhiana, along the eastern corridor as it provides effective monitoring, with the integrated train management system (TMS) facility, introduced for the first time in India for the mainlines.
• It will act as a one-stop centre for controlling trains, and will also ensure power supply for the entire route length of the EDFC. 
   

In 2015, multinational rolling stock manufacturer Alstom had won a contract worth €3.5 billion from Indian Railways authorities to supply 800 fully electric super-powered double-section locomotives of 12,000 horsepower (HP) capable of hauling almost 6000 tonnes at a speed of 120 km per hour. The contract resulted in the largest foreign direct investment (FDI) project in the Indian Railways sector. With this, India became the sixth country to produce indigenously developed e-locomotives.

The e-locos will increase the speed of freight transport in the country to two times faster. The WAG 12B locomotive is equipped with insulated gate bipolar transistors based propulsion technology. It makes use of regenerative braking which reduces energy consumption. The e-locomotives are being built in one of India's largest integrated greenfield manufacturing facilities situated at Madhepura in Bihar.