ELECTRIC DREAMS

INDIAN RAILWAYS HAS ACHIEVED NEARLY 100% TRACK ELECTRIFICATION BUT DOES NOT HAVE ENOUGH ELECTRIC LOCOMOTIVES. IT HAS NOW TURNED TO PRIVATE PLAYERS TO FILL THE DEMAND-SUPPLY GAP

- RICHA SHARMA

THE DECCAN QUEEN, A crown jewel of the Indian railways, is heritage on rails. India’s first electric express train, launched in 1930, runs between Pune and Mumbai. So, when it switched to a diesel locomotive in April this year, it was unsettling for railway enthusiasts. The reason? A shortage of high-power electric locomotives required to pull the train on the steep inclines of the Western Ghats.

In an increasingly climate-conscious world, where there is a rush for electric mobility, India is witnessing a slowdown in the availability of electric locomotives. Adding to the woes is a scarcity in diesel locomotives, mostly due to stabling since 2022 following the ramp-up of the electrification drive. Stabling is keeping idle or storing of locomotives. The shortage is pinching even freight train operators.

Experts say the production of electric locomotives has not kept pace with track electrification. The changes in rules for captive freight movement inside sidings have made things worse.

Lalit Chandra Trivedi, former general manager, East Central Railway, explains that earlier, the system allowed for private sidings, especially those belonging to industrial sectors such as coal, cement, steel, and aluminium, to deploy their own dedicated locomotives for internal shunting and movement of freight within plant premises.

“These operations were integrated with the Indian Railways (IR) network via designated interchange yards, where the IR locomotive would deliver or receive the rake and be released immediately, ensuring high asset turnover. This system has changed with the adoption of the “Engine-on-Load” policy. Now, the same IR locomotive is required to perform the internal shunting operations within private sidings, leading to increased turnaround times with locomotives being held up inside private sidings,” he says.