First electric locomotive from Madhepura factory in Bihar to roll out on February 28 - Hindustan Times
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First electric locomotive from Madhepura factory in Bihar to roll out on February 28

Hindustan Times, Hajipur | ByRajesh Kumar Thakur, Hajipur
Dec 20, 2017 03:07 PM IST

The locomotive factory spread over 250 acres of land at Madhepura, 284 km northeast of state capital Patna, is an Indian Railways joint venture with French giant Alstom.

The first high-power electric locomotive assembled at the Madhepura factory in Bihar is likely to roll out on February 28, 2018. If sources are to be believed, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will flag-off the roll out in the presence of railway minister in New Delhi.

The Madhepura electric locomotive factory.(HT file photo)
The Madhepura electric locomotive factory.(HT file photo)

The 12,000HP (horsepower) locomotive will haul the speed of trains up to 150kmph.

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“The first electric locomotive, assembled at Madhepura, will be dedicated to the nation on February 28 .Thereafter, four more high-power electric locomotives would roll out from the factory in the fiscal 2018-19,” chief spokesperson of East Central Railway (ECR) Rajesh Kumar told HT.

The locomotive factory spread over 250 acres of land at Madhepura, 284 km northeast of state capital Patna, is an Indian Railways joint venture with French giant Alstom and the first major foreign direct investment (FDI) project in the rail sector.

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A team of more than 35 engineers are working day night to assemble the electric engines at factory, set up at an estimated cost of over Rs 20,000 crore. The Indian Railways is looking to manufacture 800 electric train engines in the next 11 years to meet the requirement of locomotives after the electrification of almost all railway routes.

Five locomotives would be assembled at the factory by 2019 and the remaining 795 would be manufactured under the ‘Make in India’ initiative, Kumar said. The factory would build 100 electric engines per year from the fiscal 2019-20, he added.

The foundation stone for the factory was laid in 2007 by then railway minister Lalu Prasad. The pace of the work at the factory got momentum when the railways awarded the electric locomotive project to Alstom in November 2015.

 

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