The 40th Maintenance Study Group (MSG) meeting on “Electric Loco” was convened by Western Railway in Mumbai on 22nd & 23rd February, 2023 at Western Railway Headquarters in Churchgate. Delegates from Railway Board, RDSO, Production Units, Workshops and all Zonal Railways participated in the meeting. During the meeting, the inputs required for safe and reliable operation and maintenance of electric locos were discussed.
According to a press release issued by Sumit Thakur – Chief Public Relations Officer of Western Railway, the meeting was chaired by Basudev Panda, Additional Member (Traction)/Railway Board. Prakash Butani - Additional General Manager of Western Railway addressed the inaugural function of the meeting. Various issues pertaining to monitoring of performance, identifying common problems, finalizing corrective action and reviewing the scope of improvements in designs and maintenance practices of Electric Locomotives were extensively discussed. With 85% of RKM electrified, Indian Railways is rapidly progressing to accomplish Mission 100% Electrification and become the largest green railway network in the world. Seeing the present scenario, the contribution of MSG has been substantial and same is reflected in improved reliability and availability of Electric locomotive stock on Indian Railways. The meeting provided an effective platform for obtaining useful feedback from field units for standardization and developmental works for RDSO. This served as a useful link among Zonal Railways, RDSO and Production Units. It also helps RDSO in directing their efforts to relevant field problems for corrective action.
In the valedictory speech, Ashok Kumar Misra - General Manager of Western Railway urged the participants to make all efforts to improve the reliability of locos and desired that none of the locomotives should fail on line. All probable line failures should be arrested in loco sheds during their regular maintenance. He also emphasized RDSO to bring state-of-the-art technology for the new locomotives.
Thakur further said that it is worthwhile to mention that railway electrification on Western Railway is progressing very fast and out of a total of 5285 Route Kilometers (RKM), 4122 RKM have been electrified. It is targeted to achieve 100% Electrification in the year 2023-24. The electrification would not only reduce the precious HSD oil consumption, but would also enable efficient and environmentally safe operation.The total number of electric locos on Western Railways has also increased to 631 locos and presently, WR has witnessed 29% growth in loco holding since 1st April, 2021.
