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

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

“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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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.