The Electric Locomotive Factory, Madhepura is a joint venture of Alstom SA of France with Indian Railways for the production of 800high power locomotives over a period of 11 years designed to operate on Indian tracks at 120 km per hour. Manufacturing has started on October 11, 2017.
In September 2015, first major FDI offer in railway was when three global infrastructure giants - Siemens, Alstom and Bombardier bid for setting up ELF Madhepura at the cost of nearly INR 1300 crore on a joint venture basis with Indian Railways. However, French major Alstom emerged as the lowest bidder for the setting up, production and procurement of electric locomotives in Madhepura, Bihar .
In November 2015, the Ministry of Railways awarded the contracts for Madhepura project and Marhowra project to Alstom and General Electric respectively in a collective amount of USD 6 billion. This multi crore rupees deal was seen as the country's first FDI in the railway sector .
On April 10, 2018, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had flagged off the new locomotives from Alstom India's Madhepura facility in Bihar .
This locomotives of the flagship project "Make in India" will be put into service on the Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor (EDFC).
India's first and the fastest freight locomotives .
Alstom's WAG 12B e-locos become India's first freight
locomotives approved to run at 120 kmph .
14 October 2020: Alstom-built 12000 HP electric locomotives have been officially approved by the
Ministry of Railways and RDSO to run freight trains at a maximum speed of 120 kmph. Earlier this
year, Indian Railways began inducting the WAG 12B e-locos, which are the most powerful
locomotives to run on Indian tracks. Cumulatively, these electric locomotives have already clocked
over 1 million kilometres, thus providing a significant fillip to the country’s freight logistics
landscape.
Achievement
“The approval from RDSO is indeed a matter of pride for Alstom and a testimony of their technical expertise in partnership with the Indian Railways. In line with India’s push towards self-reliance, they had successfully leveraged their local engineering and manufacturing capabilities. Alstom is also committed to support IR in reducing its carbon footprint and adopt cleaner technologies in its quest to transform into the world’s largest Green Railway network. India is a priority for Alstom, and Alstom are committed to work closely with the Indian Railways for all their future modernization endeavours.”
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