As part of its contract worth €3.5 billion, Alstom is supplying 800 high-powered double-section Prima T8 locomotives of 12,000 HP (9 MW) for freight service. Designated by Indian Railways as WAG-12B, these locomotives are capable of hauling cca 6,000 tonne rakes at a top speed of 120 kph.
Some of the key commodities moved over more than 120 million kilometres by these e-locos include - coal, cement, food grains, fertilisers, petrochemical products, minerals, and posts/ parcels, across entire geographical boundaries of the nation.
Equipped with Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistors (IGBT) based propulsion technology, these e-Locos have considerable savings in energy consumption with the use of regenerative braking. The technology is also helpful towards making the acceleration process more efficient by reducing the heat generation and traction noise. Additionally, it also reduce the congestion faced by Indian Railways.
The WAG-12B locomotives are being built at one of India’s largest integrated greenfield manufacturing facilities at Madhepura (Bihar), under a Joint Venture between Alstom and Indian Railways. This is the largest Foreign Direct Investment project in the Indian railway sector. The facility has an installed production capacity of 120 locomotives per annum.
This project is a part of the "Make in India" initiative, with more than 85 per cent of the components sourced locally, reinforcing India’s local manufacturing capabilities.
