‘Atma Nirbhar’ BLW manufactures record 40 electric locos in Nov

VARANASI: Railway Board chairman and CEO Vinod Kumar Yadav flagged off the 40th locomotive, named ‘Deepshakti’, which was manufactured at the Banaras Locomotive Works (BLW), Varanasi, in November, on Tuesday. The ceremony was conducted via video conferencing, with BLW general manager Anjali Goyal present on the occasion.

Yadav said that by manufacturing 40 electric locomotives in November, the BLW has broken its own record of manufacturing 31 electric locomotives in a month (achieved in July 2020).This is a great achievement which is a result of meticulous planning on shop floors for better space management and seamless material availability strengthened during the month of November 2020.

He said that in four years, this production unit has completely repurposed its infrastructure to switch over from making diesel locomotives to electric locomotives. The staff and officers have risen to the challenge of re-skilling and reorganising the shop floors, machines, jigs and fixtures and planning process for transition to electric locos.

The culmination of this process is marked by the historic feat of turning out the highest electric locomotive count of 40 in a month, from a single assembly line, which is also equipped to assemble diesel locomotives for export and non-Railway customers. The shift in production from diesel to electric locomotives is in line with the ministry of railways’ multi-pronged strategy of lowering the fuel bill, reducing carbon footprint, reducing dependence on import of fuel and enhancing average speed, Yadav said.

He said that BLW has many quality certifications which clearly indicate its hard efforts in the field of quality as well. However, BLW should try to strive for ‘Zero Defect’ and become such a brand name in loco manufacturing that its locos never fail en-route and only come to shed for scheduled maintenance.