Railways @Sundar Mukherjee - Rail Enthusiast; IRFCA Member

02-08-2016:

9:00 AM: I take an auto from Varanasi station to Mughalsarai station.

It takes half an hour to reach Mughalsarai.

Mughalsarai Loco shed is located just a few meters away from Mughalsarai station.

10:00 AM: I walk towards the shed.

The Engineers at Howrah Loco Shed where I have been a regular for more than 8 years have already informed the authorities at MGS Shed, that I will be visiting the Loco shed today.

I meet few of the engineers. We sit down and have a talk regarding my range of interests in Electric Locomotives.

After a while an engineer tells me to come with him so that I can have a thorough idea about the shed.

The shed has a capacity to hold 197 Locomotives. The shed only houses conventional Locomotives i.e WAP 4, WAG 7, WAM 4 and WAG 5.

The shed is divided into four sections:-

1. Transformer Section

2. Traction Motor Section

3. Pantograph and other motors such as Static Inverter and Arno System.

4. Testing Bay

It took me an hour to tour the entire shed. I spot several WAM 4 Locomotives and WAG 7 Locomotives. WAM 4 Locomotive’s are slowly being scrapped.

The Loco shed was water logged. I couldn’t move towards the bay where a few BHEL made WAG 7 Locomotives were kept. A day before a heavy downpour had resulted in the accumulation of water within the shed.

At 11:30 AM I leave the shed and I reach Varanasi at 12.30 PM.

I depart with a heavy soul. My interest in Locomotives will never wane. I don’t know whether I will be able to visit these places of my interest as I cease to be a student any longer. I have completed my B.tech, the results of which were announced a few days back.

Happy and Sad.

From the core of my heart, I thank IRFCA for providing me the platform which in the first place ignited my passion and interest in Locomotives.

I had visited Chittaranjan Locomotive Works on 30-05-2016. The engineers at CLW were kind enough to inform their colleagues at DLW that I would be visiting the factory and accordingly all arrangements were made. I was initially supposed to visit the DLW on 24^th June but had to cancel the trip as my 8^th semester exams had been postponed. So, eventually I planned it during the 1^st week of August.

30-07-2016: I begin my journey to DLW Varanasi.

I board 13009 UP Doon Express. The train departs at 8:30 PM.

31-07-2016: At 9 am we reach Rafiganj where the train comes to a halt. I come to know from the RPF inside the coach that the Loco has failed. A new Loco will be brought from Mughalsarai or Gomoh to pull it.

((I visit Mughalsarai Shed on 02-08-2016. I come to know that one of the VCB unit of the WAP 4 Locomotive that was pulling our train on 30/06/2016 had failed. The Loco has been sent back to Howrah for repairs. The company that provides VCB{Vacuum Circuit Breaker} is Areva and Bombardier Transportation.))

Report of Mughalsarai Electric Loco Shed.

I get down from the coach and reach the front of the rake to have a glimpse of the Locomotive. It is a Mughalsarai based WAP 4 road number 22907. The engineer’s were trying to fix the Locomotive but all in vain.

We resume our journey 3 hours later when a WAG 7 Locomotive from Gomoh Shed arrives from Gomoh and pulls our train.

I reach Varanasi at 1pm.

1-08-2016: I take an auto from the hotel to DLW premises.

I am greeted by “KUNDAN”, the 1^st Loco manufactured by DLW. The loco after many years of service was brought from one of the diesel shed’s in the country and then refurbished in the factory. Since 30^th July, 2016 it has been permanently showcased at the entrance of DLW. It is a WDM 2 class Loco.

I meet the Engineer who has done all the necessary arrangements for my visit here. He welcomes me to his place. We move to the factory at 1 pm.

The RPF at the entry gate checks my gate passes and we move in.

Fabrication and Assembly Shop:

This workshop is known as Loco Frame Shop. Here the under-frame of the Locomotive is built from scratch for WDP 4 and WDG 4 Locomotive.

The tools that DLW uses for fabrication are mostly PLC (Programmable Logic Controller) based. The welding becomes easy since mostly it is controlled by the computer. Siemens is one of the companies that has provided the PLC.

Several under-frames lying in the workshop are also supplied by private companies. DLW Dankuni also manufactures under-frames for WDP 4/WDG 4 along with other private companies.

The process of welding can be classified as under:

1^st Process:

Laydown 1:

Here the under-frame is welded part by part and joined with iron sheets for the formation of the entire under-frame and then moved to the next shop.

Trunnion 1:

The under-frame can be moved 360 degree with the help of this machine and the remaining parts of the under-frame are welded according to the design.

2^nd Process:

Laydown 2:

After the under-frame has been welded, the pipe’s are installed (Pneumatic) and other sections (mechanical parts) of the Loco are installed.

Trunnion 2:

With the help of the machine the rest of the Loco under-frame gets a final welding touch after all the pipes and other mechanical equipment's have been joined. It is then moved to the next shop.

Painting of U/F:

This shop is only meant for the painting of under-frame after all welding work has been done. After the paint work has been done by an automatic installed machine, it is moved to the fitting section.

Bottom Equipment Section:

This section deals with the external equipment's such as oil tank, battery box, wires, sand box and the couplers. These are fitted here in this section. The external equipment's are all supplied by private firms.

After all these are done, the 16 cylinder turbocharged engine (made in the factory) along with the alternator and loco cabs (that are all supplied mostly by private firms) are assembled and fitted in this section.

The entire shop is divided into two parts. Half is for fabrication and the other half is for Assembly of components to be installed in the Loco.

Paint Shop:

Just after the assembly shop, a small new shop has been set up recently for painting purposes. The entire loco gets painted here. Painting is outsourced.

Loco Testing Shop:

After the paint job has been done, the loco’s are moved to the testing shop. Here the loco’s are tested and are finally despatched from the factory.

Next we proceed to different small workshops known as Engine Division:

The block of the engine is manufactured here. Here the entire fabrication of the Crank Case is done first and then the entire engine is also tested.

The shop is divided into several sections where each part of the engine as mentioned under is made from scratch.

· Crank Case

· Crank Shaft

· Cylinder Liner

· Cylinder Head

· Connecting Rod

· Oil Shop

Different shops are meant for production of all these. After all these are made, they get transferred to another workshop known as Block Shop.

In this workshop there are two testing rooms where the entire engine gets tested with different parameters as set by General Motors.

Now I move to another shop which runs parallel to the Fabrication/Assembly Shop.

The shop is known as Traction Motor Shop:

Here all the bogies of WDP 4 and WDG 4 Loco’s are kept. The traction motor is assembled here. The bogies are all outsourced. The traction motors are supplied by Siemens.

There are two types of bogies. One is the Fabricated bogie and the other is the casting bogie. The easiest way to recognize them is to remember that “WDP 4” bogies are Fabricated, whereas “WDG 4” are casting ones. Both have different structures.

The wheel assembly shop is also inside this workshop. Wheels and axles are supplied by another unit of Indian Railways known as “Rail Wheel Factory at Yelankha”. These are assembled here for the WDP 4/WDG 4 Locomotives.

After I tour the entire factory, I meet some of the engineers and I get to know a lot of useful things.

· Only WDP 4/D and WDG 4/D Loco's are manufactured here.

· WDG 5 Loco production has stopped for the time being due to technical problems. The problems are currently being looked into by DLW and RDSO. Till date 5 Loco's have been manufactured by DLW.

· Production Target for this year is 333 Loco's.

· The target for WDG 5 loco is 8, provided the technical and other issues gets sorted out.

· No hotel Load Locomotives are being made for the time being.

· Painting is outsourced.

· Bogie is supplied by private companies. No in-house production.

· Motors are supplied by Siemens.

· Under-frame of Loco are mostly outsourced and few manufactured in the factory. Even DLW Dankuni supplies the under-frame.

· The entire engine that powers the locomotive is manufactured in the factory. The engine parts are manufactured in different workshops.

· The factory is being expanded by RVNL to manufacture 500+ Loco's each year.

· Production of Alco Locomotives have stopped. Only Alco Locomotives that are sent to PSU's are refurbished if required.

· The Dual Mode Locomotive project has been transferred to CLW. They might implement it on the WAP 7 Locomotive.

· Next we move to see the construction of the expansion of the factory. The factory is being expanded with the help of RVNL(Rail Vikas Nigam Limited).

· RVNL also made CLW and DLW Dankuni.

· The target for DLW is 500+ Loco’s after the expansion is complete.

At 5 pm, we leave the factory. We have a cup of tea and some snacks and then I leave.

A day well spent. A lot of things learnt.

The first WAP 7 HOG manufactured by DLW.

Pic Courtesy: Ministry of Railways, India.

The Diesel Locomotive Works (DLW), a production unit of Indian Railways in Varanasi, has made a history by converting the diesel loco into electric loco with indigenous technology under ‘Make In India’ initiative.

The DLW authorities claimed that first time in the world any loco has been converted from diesel traction to electric traction.

“It was a great challenge accomplished in a short span of time. The work on this project was started on December 22, 2017 and the locomotive was successfully rolled out on February 28, 2018,” said the chief public relation officer of DLW Nitin Mehrotra adding that the works are on for testing of unit’s safety and further improvement.

According to him, DLW has turned out WAGC3 class of locomotive (Number 001). This 5,000 hp unit is one half of a 10,000 hp locomotive. What is remarkable about this new series is the concept on which it is based, wherein two diesel locomotives of WDG3A class are converted to one permanently coupled 12-axle, electric locomotive of 10,000 hp.

A team consisting of engineers from Research Designs and Standards Organisation (RDSO), Chiitaranjan Locomotive Works (CLW), DLW and Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd. (BHEL) worked under the leadership of DLW general manager Rashmi Goel and guidance of Railway Board member (traction) Ghansyam Singh.

“For this audacious attempt the team set very hard targets for itself,” he said adding that it was decided that only those locomotives will be considered for conversion which are due for mid life rehabilitation (where the diesel locomotives are practically given new heart), retaining their chassis, bogies and traction motors.The team adventurously attempted to use the sidewalls and roof of decommissioned WAM4 class electric locomotive. The work needed detailed system engineering as there were no precedent designs and experience available anywhere in the world. RDSO prepared equipment layout and DLW prepared the drawings for modification of the WDG3A chassis. The modifications were vetted by RDSO after detailed finite element analysis on standard load scenarios.