Southern Railway pilot project loco saves 36,000 litres of diesel
Posted on: 15/Apr/2017 4:03:28 PM
A Southern Railway pilot project on Chennai-Coimbatore Shatabdi loco has facilitated a saving of 36,000 litres of diesel.
Recently, Southern Railway has conducted a pilot project. In this project, a locomotive pulling the Chennai-Coimbatore Shatabdi Express was modified so that the electricity provided for use by passengers inside coaches is taken from the Overhead Electric (OHE) cable-lines, instead of operating a power car running on diesel.
This pilot project was carried out from November 2016 to February 2017.
As per the official statistics given by the Chennai division of Southern Railway, this pilot project has resulted in savings of approximately 36,000 litres of diesel.
In Railway parlance, this modification is known as Head-On-Generation (HOG). Power is tapped from the locomotive, in this case, the WAP-7 from Royapuram shed, and fed to the train through an inter-coach coupler, states railelectra.com, a knowledge portal on railway engineering.
Further technical details
The coaches used for Shatabdi Express are the German-make Linke-Hoffman-Busche (LHB) coaches. These are provided with noisy power cars, known as End-on-Generation(EOG), at the end of the rake for hotel load. This is because LHB coaches lack the self-generation mechanism of Integral Coach Factory (ICF) make coaches, where electricity is generated by using alternators coupled with the coach-wheel.
Self-generation is considered power inefficient by railway engineers and it also involves maintenance of the alternator-set. EOG is energy inefficient as it uses diesel, a polluting fuel, and also makes lots of noise.
Power cars were earlier used for Rajdhani and Shatabdi, but with Railway Board recommending usage of LHB coaches, it is being used in many more trains.
HOG thus helps railways cut down its consumption of diesel, which is part of environment conservation goals, said Anupam Sharma, Divisional Railway Manager (DRM) of Chennai division. "We are studying the results of this pilot project and will take a call on its wider implementation," he said.
There is also a hidden passenger benefit in this as well, a senior railway official said. If by using HOG, power cars are eliminated, Railways can attach one extra coach to the rake and carry at least 80 passengers in one journey, the official said. HOG is utilised by metro-rail coaches and in train sets across the world, the official said.
Recently, Southern Railway has conducted a pilot project. In this project, a locomotive pulling the Chennai-Coimbatore Shatabdi Express was modified so that the electricity provided for use by passengers inside coaches is taken from the Overhead Electric (OHE) cable-lines, instead of operating a power car running on diesel.
This pilot project was carried out from November 2016 to February 2017.
As per the official statistics given by the Chennai division of Southern Railway, this pilot project has resulted in savings of approximately 36,000 litres of diesel.
In Railway parlance, this modification is known as Head-On-Generation (HOG). Power is tapped from the locomotive, in this case, the WAP-7 from Royapuram shed, and fed to the train through an inter-coach coupler, states railelectra.com, a knowledge portal on railway engineering.
Further technical details
The coaches used for Shatabdi Express are the German-make Linke-Hoffman-Busche (LHB) coaches. These are provided with noisy power cars, known as End-on-Generation(EOG), at the end of the rake for hotel load. This is because LHB coaches lack the self-generation mechanism of Integral Coach Factory (ICF) make coaches, where electricity is generated by using alternators coupled with the coach-wheel.
Self-generation is considered power inefficient by railway engineers and it also involves maintenance of the alternator-set. EOG is energy inefficient as it uses diesel, a polluting fuel, and also makes lots of noise.
Power cars were earlier used for Rajdhani and Shatabdi, but with Railway Board recommending usage of LHB coaches, it is being used in many more trains.
HOG thus helps railways cut down its consumption of diesel, which is part of environment conservation goals, said Anupam Sharma, Divisional Railway Manager (DRM) of Chennai division. "We are studying the results of this pilot project and will take a call on its wider implementation," he said.
There is also a hidden passenger benefit in this as well, a senior railway official said. If by using HOG, power cars are eliminated, Railways can attach one extra coach to the rake and carry at least 80 passengers in one journey, the official said. HOG is utilised by metro-rail coaches and in train sets across the world, the official said.
