He is 47, but getting younger by the day with more strength and
vigour, helping the Indian Railways ferry passengers and goods to
all destinations across the country. In addition, he extends his
helping hand to Third Word countries in developing their cheapest
mode of transport.

The Diesel Locomotive Works (DLW), established in this town of
temples on beaches of the river Ganga in 1961 for meeting the
increased transportation needs, is the mainstay of the Indian
Railways today, producing over 200 locomotives of various types per
year.

Besides, it has supplied 101 locomotives to Tanzania, Vietnam, Sri
Lanka, Bangladesh, Malaysia, Sudan, Myanmar, Senegal and Mali.

Talking to a visiting press party from Delhi, DLW General Manager SM
Bharadwaj said the relevance of the diesel locomotive for the
country is overwhelming even today and would continue for many more
years despite the advent of electric locomotives. It will remain the
backbone of the Indian Railways for many many years to come, he
noted. Of 63,000 km total rail track in the country, only 18,000 km
is electrified, the remaining about 68 per cent track is still
covered by Diesel locomotives. Having begun its production of just 4
locomotives (2,600 HP) a year in 1963-64 in collaboration with M/s
ALCO, USA, the DLW surpassed its targets in the past three years by
producing 148 locomotives as against its target of 143 in 2005-06,
186 as against 182 in 2006-07 and 222 as against the target of 220
in 2007-08, which is a record in itself. The DLW, being the world's
largest diesel locomotive manufacturer outiside north America today,
has a capacity of building 150 locomotives per year.

Till now, the DLW had steamed out 5,346 locomotives, besides
manufacturing 53 high capacity diesel generating sets. This includes
359 locomotives for non-Railway customers in the country like power
plants, port trusts, steel plants.

The upswing in production was possible due to certain innovations
put into the system, which included total indegenisation of ALCO
technology. Through in-house development efforts, the original
imported design has been made 7 per cent more fuel-efficient and
also successfully up-rated to deliver about 30 per cent more power,
increasing it from 2600 HP to 3300 HP.

http://news.webindia123.com/news/ar_showdetails.asp?
id=808070504&cat=&n_date=20080807

Varanasi | Thursday, Aug 7 2008