India rolls out its First CNG based Rail Locomotive - Indian Railways Going Green!

[proud_indian]

@anant_s @Echo_419 Second CNG DEMU rolled out - Indian Railways Organisation for Alternate Fuels (IROAF) has followed up the launch of Compressed Natural Gas dual-fuel rakes (a coupled group of coaches) in January this year with another CNG DEMU rake that will operate between Shamli and Delhi. This service has been inaugurated by Hon’ble Minister of State for Railways Shri Manoj Sinha on 7th July 2015 at Shamli station.

Another CNG DEMU Hits the Rails in India | NGV Global

I have traveled on this route 100's of time, my nana nani lives on this route.

 

[Echo_419]

@anant_s @Echo_419 Second CNG DEMU rolled out - Indian Railways Organisation for Alternate Fuels (IROAF) has followed up the launch of Compressed Natural Gas dual-fuel rakes (a coupled group of coaches) in January this year with another CNG DEMU rake that will operate between Shamli and Delhi. This service has been inaugurated by Hon’ble Minister of State for Railways Shri Manoj Sinha on 7th July 2015 at Shamli station.

Another CNG DEMU Hits the Rails in India | NGV Global

I trust majority of the components in that thing is made in India

 

[anant_s]

@anant_s @Echo_419 Second CNG DEMU rolled out - Indian Railways Organisation for Alternate Fuels (IROAF) has followed up the launch of Compressed Natural Gas dual-fuel rakes (a coupled group of coaches) in January this year with another CNG DEMU rake that will operate between Shamli and Delhi. This service has been inaugurated by Hon’ble Minister of State for Railways Shri Manoj Sinha on 7th July 2015 at Shamli station.

Another CNG DEMU Hits the Rails in India | NGV Global

alternate fuels are the way forward as far as non electric traction is concerned. railways is also dabbling with Jatropha based bio diesel concept and given the fact that these are greener options, i suppose it is commendable on part of railways.

 

[proud_indian]

alternate fuels are the way forward as far as non electric traction is concerned. railways is also dabbling with Jatropha based bio diesel concept and given the fact that these are greener options, i suppose it is commendable on part of railways.

it's a good initiative
but their ultimate focus should be to electrify the entire spectrum of railway.
the speed of electrification in India is very slow

 

[anant_s]

it's a good initiative
but their ultimate focus should be to electrify the entire spectrum of railway.
the speed of electrification in India is very slow

well sir, speaking purely in terms of economics, complete electrification is neither an operationally wise decision nor commercially.
right now railway uses a number measure in Route Kilometer Tonnes to decide if a section needs to be electrified. essentially what it means is that if number of trains or amount of traffic measured in weight exceeds a certain value, the track is considered for electrification.
second thing is that state electricity boards charge railways a premium amount for uninterrupted power supply for traction, which unfortunately adds to operational costs.
right now railways is concentrating on remain golden quadrilateral route (pune to guntakal of mumbai chennai sector) and its feeder routes.
for remaining section we will see high power 3 phase diesel locos like WDG 5 (rated at 5500 hp) and WDG 6 (rated at 6000+hp) to compliment the existing fleet of WDG 4 (4500 hp).

 

[Tridibans]

Good the whole of the network should be electrified & Rail networknin the NE should be expanded

Actually whole network should not be electrified. Mostly Single lines and routes with less traffic should be diesel as it is mor economical. (Hence most tracks in Rajkot/ Bhavnagar division of WR, Interior of Karnataka, etc are diesel territory). FEDL (Fully electrified double lines ) are those trunk routes whose electrification is economically justified. Upkeep of catenary wires, electric sub-stations etc. require huge maintenance and hence returns should be adequate to justify such routes.

Aim is to have all trunk routes to be FEDL and add extra tracks (third line) in busy sections like Mughalsarai-Kanpur-Delhi or Delhi-Mathura-Bhopal, etc.

Infact Western Freight corridor will be diesel one.

 

[anant_s]

Infact Western Freight corridor will be diesel one.

sorry to nitpick but western DFC is also a double line electrified route using 2*25 kv scheme. it is also proposed to use 14000 hp Bo-Bo+Bo-Bo electric locos on this route.

 

[Tridibans]

sorry to nitpick but western DFC is also a double line electrified route using 2*25 kv scheme. it is also proposed to use 14000 hp Bo-Bo+Bo-Bo electric locos on this route.

Oh Ok... thanks for the info... Actually I read in some site (Called IRFCA) that it will be diesel. But then remembered reading somewhere that we are procuring electric engines from Japan which will have more power than WAG9H... our most potent freight loco.

 

[anant_s]

Oh Ok... thanks for the info... Actually I read in some site (Called IRFCA) that it will be diesel. But then remembered reading somewhere that we are procuring electric engines from Japan which will have more power than WAG9H... our most potent freight loco.

Japan is competing for IGBT based locos (Hitachi) but looks like its a fight between Siemens Eurosprinter and Alsthom's TRAXX.

 

[Tridibans]

sorry to nitpick but western DFC is also a double line electrified route using 2*25 kv scheme. it is also proposed to use 14000 hp Bo-Bo+Bo-Bo electric locos on this route.

Do you have any more info on the types of Bo-Bo+Bo-Bo electric locos we are procuring? And what happened to the experiments of Mu'ed WAP-5s for high speed trials ? I think the trailing loco was supposed to have hotel load for the rake?

 

[proud_indian]

@anant_s @Tridibans

guyz plz suggest me some websites where I can read about kind of locos Indian railway uses. About the origin of these locos and about tech transfer in railway.

 

[anant_s]

Do you have any more info on the types of Bo-Bo+Bo-Bo electric locos we are procuring?

There is a green field locomotive factory being setup at madhepura in Bihar, for which it is planned to procure 800 Bo-Bo+Bo-Bo 3 phase locos rated at 12000-14000 HP (Documents say 12000, but i've met some people who quote twin 7000 HP output units).
http://www.indianrailways.gov.in/ra...le_engg/pdf/RFQ_document_Madhepura_060513.PDF
Japan is btw assisting India in developing a Co-Co 9,000 HP single unit loco and this is possibly for Eastern DFC.
For the said tender, the two front runners are Alsthom's (now Bombardier transportation) TRAXX and Siemens Vectron (base design for Euro sprinter)
Vectron

TRAXX

 

[Tridibans]

@anant_s @Tridibans

guyz plz suggest me some websites where I can read about kind of locos Indian railway uses. About the origin of these locos and about tech transfer in railway.

Best website out there...
[IRFCA] Welcome to IRFCA.org, the home of IRFCA on the internet.

[IRFCA] FAQ, Documents, Articles, Maps etc; (This link is like an encyclopedia of Indian Railways)

Even membership is free...

India Rail Info is also good.... but it is mostly a forum
India Rail Info - A Busy Junction for Travellers and Rail Enthusiasts

 

[anant_s]

nd what happened to the experiments of Mu'ed WAP-5s for high speed trials ?

two locos 30071 and 30072 have been shipped from CLW in permanently MUed (Multiple Unit Enabled) configuration. these locos have a single pantograph for each unit and are connected by a common High Tension cable (for power transfer from One pantograph). I saw one last month at Vishwamitri station (Near Vadodra with some unknown train).

This is the factory configuration of MUed WAP 5 and these are proposed for high speed operation of rajdhani class trains (18-20 LHB coaches) at upto 200 kph (track condition permitting).

I think the trailing loco was supposed to have hotel load for the rake?

Not necessarily. Head On generation Capability requires an additional convertor that taps off power from Locos main transformer to feed the loads of bogies at 750V. WAP 7 for example has 2*500 KVA single phase convertors but RDSO is trying out these for WAP 4 and WAP 5 as well.
You can identify this feature (Atleast in WAP 7) by looking at side panels, that have additional ventilation opening for the convertors.

 

[Tridibans]

two locos 30071 and 30072 have been shipped from CLW in permanently MUed (Multiple Unit Enabled) configuration. these locos have a single pantograph for each unit and are connected by a common High Tension cable (for power transfer from One pantograph). I saw one last month at Vishwamitri station (Near Vadodra with some unknown train).
View attachment 245982
This is the factory configuration of MUed WAP 5 and these are proposed for high speed operation of rajdhani class trains (18-20 LHB coaches) at upto 200 kph (track condition permitting).

Not necessarily. Head On generation Capability requires an additional convertor that taps off power from Locos main transformer to feed the loads of bogies at 750V. WAP 7 for example has 2*500 KVA single phase convertors but RDSO is trying out these for WAP 4 and WAP 5 as well.
You can identify this feature (Atleast in WAP 7) by looking at side panels, that have additional ventilation opening for the convertors.
View attachment 245983
View attachment 245984

Ya... saw that video the other day... This Bhilad Vadodara Express acts like an experimental train for WR .... When BRC started getting WAP5s back in 2012, this train was used for Loco Pilot training. And now this