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History of electric trac on in India

Electric trac on was introduced on Indian Railways in year 1925 on
1.5 KV DC and the rst electric
train ran between Bombay's Victoria Terminus and Kurla along the Harbour Line of CR, on February 3, 1925, a
distance of 9.5 miles, agged o the then Governor of Bombay Sir Leslie Orme Wilson.
In the year 1957, Indian Railways decided to adopt 25 kV 50 Hz AC trac on based on French Railway (SNCF)
technology.
The rst 25kV AC electried sec on was Burdwan-Mughalsarai, completed in 1957, followed by the
Tatanagar-Rourkela sec on on the Howrah-Bombay route. The rst actual train run (apart from trial runs) using
25kV AC was on Dec. 15, 1959 on the Kendposi-Rajkharswan sec on (SER). Howrah-Gaya was electried by about
1960 , electrica on ll Kanpur on the Howrah-Delhi route was done by about 1972, and the en re Howrah-Delhi
route was electried on Aug. 5, 1976. The Bombay-Delhi (WR) route was electried by Feb. 1, 1988. The CR route
was fully electried by June 1990.
Considering the advantages of 2 x 25kV AC system , it was commissioned between Bina and Katni (CR) on
Jan. 16, 1995 as a pilot project. This was later extended to Bishrampur. Though this system was not
proliferated further earlier, it is being planned for use on Dedicated Freight Corridors to take up heavier
trac.

History of Electric Locomo ves

SNo

Class of
Loco
DC Locomo ves
1
WCM1
2
WCM2
3
WCM3
4
WCM4
5
WCM5
6
WCM6
7
WCG1
8
WCG2
AC/DC Locos
9
WCAM1

Year of
Manufacturing

Horse
Power

Technology

1954
1956
1957
1960
1961
1996
1925
1970

3170
2810
2460
3290
3700
5000
2400
1640

English Electric
English Electric
English Electric
Hitachi
CLW
CLW
Swiss Loco works
CLW

1975

3640(AC)
2930(DC)
4720(AC)
3780(DC)
5000(AC)
4600(DC)

CLW

10

WCAM2

1995

11

WCAM3

1997

WAM1
WAM2
WAM3
WAM4
WAP1
WAP3

1959
1960
1964
1970
1980
1987

AC Locos
12
13
14
15
16
17

2870
2790
2790
3640
3760
3760

CLW
BHEL

KM-KRUPP-SFAC
Mitsubishi
Mitsubishi
Mitsubishi
CLW
CLW

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18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30

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WAP4
WAP5
WAP6
WAP7
WAG1
WAG2
WAG3
WAG4
WAG5
WAG6
WAG7
WAG9
WAG9H

1994
1993
1998
2000
1963
1964
1965
1966
1984
1987
1992
1996
2006

5000
6000
5000
6350
2900
3180
3150
3150
3900
6000
5000
6000
6000

CLW
ABB
CLW
CLW
SNCF
Hitachi/ Mitsubishi
Europe
CLW
CLW/BHEL
ASEA
CLW
ABB/CLW
CLW

Three phase technology

A er reaching a power level of 5000 hp, there was no further scope for up-grada on with minimal inputs in
the dc drive locomo ves, as the capacity of equipment in the trac on chain was fully u lised. Any further
up-grada on needed a total new design. During late 80s, development took place in developed railways towards
three phase induc on motor based drives for trac on due to the dis nct advantages of less maintenance
intensiveness in comparison to dc drives. Induc on motor drives are also known for extremely eec ve
regenera on, thereby reducing the energy cost.
On 23rd July 1993, through a landmark decision, Indian Railways signed a contract with ABB Transporta on
(Switzerland) for impor ng freight and passenger class of locomo ves together with transfer of technology
agreement for indigenous manufacture. The design was approved by RDSO a er many technical interac ons, in
which, CLW also associated. As ABB did not have much experience in the broad gauge system, they had to
customise many aspects of bogies, car body, cab equipment, trac on motor etc.
Both WAP5 and WAG9 class have GTO based trac on converters and microprocessor based control. This was
the rst me that CLW handled such high technology locomo ves, and it needed a paradigm shi in the
management of this technology. The real challenge was posed when the technology was to be absorbed and
indigenous produc on to be done. 11 numbers of passenger locomo ves which arrived in 1995-96 were directly
put into service a er eld trials. Rated at 5400 hp, it has a maximum test speed of 180 km/h, which can be
increased to 225 km/h by certain modica ons in the future. These have been tested successfully upto 180 km/h
and speed cer cate issued for 160-km/h service speed, even though maximum opera onal speed today is only
150 km/h
6 freight locomo ves of WAG9 class received in 1996 in fully assembled and tested condi on were also
straightaway put on service a er trials. This had a ra ng of 6000 hp with maximum service speed of 100 km/h,
capable of delivering 460kN star ng trac ve eort.
During the year 2000, a er mastering vehicle applica on so ware by CLW engineers, a new variant WAP7
was built by adap ng the original WAG9 design. WAP7 was intended for passenger opera on for service speeds up
to 130 km/h, which is the maximum speed of Rajdhani and Shatabdi trains today. WAP7 addresses the high-speed
segment very well now. With an output of above 6000 hp, this is the most powerful and preferred locomo ve for
passenger opera on today due to its excellent accelera on, decelera on and energy saving features. WAP5 will,
however, address the speeds of 140 km/h and above in future, as I.Rly is already working in this direc on. CLW
went on to build these three classes of locomo ves.

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A variant WAG9H with an adhesive weight of 135 tonnes was also developed capable of delivering 52 tonnes
star ng trac ve eort targe ng 1 in 150 graded sec ons. Though this locomo ve cleared the oscilla on trials, this
eet was not built due to other opera onal reasons-as a result the prototype WAG-9H (#31030) was converted in
to WAG-9 class. However, with increased axle loads now being permi ed, Railway Board has placed order for 4
locos of WAG-9H class with 22 tonnes axle load. The rst locomo ve, viz., 31086 with 22 tonnes axle load was
agged o by Honble MR on 29th July 2006 and has entered in to service.

Advantages of three phase locos:

Be er relaibilty and availability of three phase locos

It regenerates energy about 15-18%, a moving power house. Regenera on of power is available in
3-phase locomo ves. Regenera ve braking eort is available from the full speed ll dead stop.
Consequently, the overall eciency of opera on is higher.
Maintenance cost of a 3-phase locomo ve is less due to absence of brush-gear/ commutator in the
trac on motors and switchgears in the power circuit.
3-phase locomo ve operates at near unity power factor throughout the speed range except at very
low speeds.

IGBT based propulsion technology

GTO technology is ge ng obsolete, the world over. IGBT based propulsion system is already in place in a few
countries. To tackle the obsolescence problem and keep abreast of the technology and derive its inherent benets,
CLW has already got a project sanc oned for building 5 locomo ves with IGBT based propulsion system. This will
be according to TCN open standard interface. This is a vision project of Indian Railways presented in Ministers
budget speech 2004-05 and is already underway. In order to sustain 3-phase technology at aordable cost, and to
ensure component level standardisa on and obsolescence handling, a parallel development has been taken up
with C-DAC (under ministry of IT) for indigenous development of TCN based vehicle control system and IGBT based
auxiliary converter.

Railway Electrica on
With a view to reduce dependence on petroleum based energy in Railway transport, IR have been progressively
switching over to electric trac on. This also enables haulage of heavier loads at higher speeds, thus increasing
throughput. It is a pollu on free system and with use of modern high horse power locos having regenera ve
braking, it becomes vastly energy ecient.
On IR, Electric trac on was rst introduced on 3rd Feb.1925 between Bombay VT to Kurla Harbour line (16 RKM)
on 1.5 KV DC system. By March 2008 electrica on on IR had extended up to 18145 RKMs. This cons tutes 28.65%
of the total Railway network and 36.42% of the BG system .

Plan period wise progress of electrica on

Plan Period

RKM Electried

RKM Cumula ve

Pre-Independence
1925-1947

388

388

1st Plan 1951-56

141

529

2nd Plan 1956-61

216

745

3rd Plan

1678

2423

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Annual Plan 1966-69

814
954

3237
4190

533

4723

195
1522

4918
6440

7th

2812

9252

8th Plan 1992-97

1557
2708

10809
13517

9th Plan 1997-02

2484

16001

10th Plan 2002-07

1810

17811

11th Plan 1st year 2007-08

502

18145*

2nd year 2008-09

797

18942

3rd year 2009-10

1117

20059

4th

Plan 1969-74

5th Plan 1974-78

Inter Plan 1978-80
6th

Plan 1980-85

Plan 1985-90
Inter Plan 1990-92

* 168 RKM deducted as MG electried line

dismantled

AC-DC Conver on work

The 1.5kV DC overhead system (nega ve earth, posi ve catenary) is used around Bombay (This includes Mumbai
CST - Kalyan, Kalyan - Pune, Kalyan - Igatpuri, Mumbai CST - Belapur - Panvel, and Churchgate - Virar).

Why Conversion?

Overhead DC trac on power supply system has reached its satura on level.
Trac on substa ons inter-spacing being very low making fault level unmanageble and crea ng
serious re hazard.
Investments in DC if con nued will be exorritant
Very high recurring maintenance cost of DC trac on system

Work involved
OHE modica on:

Replacement of insulators, sec on insulators, isolators, increasing clearances, insula on under

bridges & tunnels, insulated overlaps modica on, neutral sec on forma on, errec on of Aux.
transformers, easrthing and bonding as per AC system
Construc on of AC substa ons & switching sta ons including SCADA
LT modica ons at pla orms, washing sidings

Modica ons to Signalling & Telecom:

Replacement of AC track circuits with Audio frequency Track Circuits (AFTC)/ Digital Axle counters
(DAC)
Provision of cut-in relays, screens & earthing
Replacement of point motors with AC immunized motors
Provision of Op c Fibre Cable (OFC) and STM-1 equipments
Raising /Construc on of ROBs & FOBs

Benets of DC-AC conversion

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25 to 30% saving in energy cost due to VVVF drive & Regenera on braking systems being employed
in Electric locos & EMUs expected to yield saving of about Rs. 50 Cr/Year
Introduc on of high power locomo ves. WAG7 locos need less maintenance are more reliable and
generate higher trac ve eort than DC locos. This will result in smoother ghat opera on at higher
speeds
Reduc on in Maximum Power Demand for same level of trac
Reduc on in no. of substa ons from 73 to 18 leading to higher reliability & lower maintenance cost
Increased life of contact wire
Higher voltage insula on level in 25 KV AC system to with stand surged with greater reliability
Lesser maintenance on rail bonding in AC sysytem
Goods train with 58 BOXN can be taken up the ghat without spli ng
U lisa on of electric locos will increase.

Electrica on of Sidings
Though all the trunk routes/ Main lines have been electried 53 no of sidings le out without electrica on.
This causes unnecessary delay in movement of trains, it is requires trac on change etc., Once these sidings gets
electried loads can reach its des na on in me and in turn the turn round period of loads will also get increased.

Electrica on of Missing Links

Main routes have been electried and their links are s ll le out un wired. For example missing links are
Jhansi-Kanpur, Itarsi-Jabalpur-Allhabad. These missing links requires to be electried so that the delay for trac on
change could be avoided and throughput will get increased with electric loco opera on.

Train Ligh ng/Air Condi oning (TL/AC)

Ligh ng in passenger coaches was introduced star ng around 1897. The Jodhpur Railway was the rst to
make electric ligh ng standard on all its coaches, in 1902. A long me ago, steam locos used to have 24V turbine
generators to provide power for ligh ng and other appliances in the coaches. In general, only the rst and second
class coaches had lights and fans for every compartment, the 'inter' class had only lights, and the third class
coaches had just two lights, one at each end near the door. Provision of lights and fans as standard equipment in
all compartments was legislated in 1952.
Individual coaches are powered by axle-driven generators which charge storage ba eries that power lights,
fans and other electrical ngs. Older coaches have 24V (less o en 48V) circuitry and have dynamos connected to
the axles by belts. Newer coaches have 110V circuitry and use belt-driven 4.5kW, 110V alternators. Both systems
use banks of 24V ba eries (mostly lead-acid ba eries of an 800Ah capacity) for back-up power. LHB stock uses
4.5kW alternators (6kW for air-condi oned stock). In the 1990s, there was a big push to convert all old stock with
24V systems to the 110V system.
In older stock, for powering air-condi oning equipment, an inverter was used to convert the DC output of a
set of ba eries to 415V AC. For some me now, however, groups of 110V alternators delivering 18-22kW each have
been used to power air-condi oning equipment (the voltage is stepped up to 415V). Most recently, RDSO has
developed a newer 25kW 110V alternator with be er power circuitry.
Many air-condi oned coaches are not self-contained with regard to the power supply. For such coaches, a
'mid-on generator' (MOG) is used; this is a 415V 3-phase alternator (either in one of the coaches or in a separate
'power-car'), the output from which is used both for the air-condi oning, and (stepped down to 110V) for the lights
and fans. Some 'end-on generators' (EOG) also generate 415V 3-phase AC.

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Prior to the 1930's, various arrangements for cooling the interiors of passenger coaches existed, mostly for
the rst-class coaches. The North-Western Railway introduced air-condi oned stock in the late 1930's (the earliest
was probably the Fron er Mail in 1936 or 1937). BBCI Railways also experimented with air-condi oning at about
the same me. By the early 1950's, air-condi oning was available on several long-distance trains. For example, in
1952-53 there were air-condi oned services between Bombay and Howrah, Delhi and Madras (Grand Trunk Exp.),
Bombay and Delhi, Bombay-Amritsar (Fron er Mail), Bombay-Viramgam (Saurashtra Mail), and BombayAhmedabad (Gujarat Mail). These all used AC units that were mounted beneath the coach body (underslung),
interconnected by pipes. Self-contained roof-mounted units appeared in year 1980.
The rst fully air-condi oned train was introduced in 1956 between Howrah and Delhi. Popularly known as
the AC Express, it ran on the Grand Chord; later there were two, one running on the Grand Chord and the other on
the Main Line. Another train popularly known as the AC Express was the Dakshin Exp. between Madras and New
Delhi in the 1960s.
AC Chair Car stock was introduced around 1955. Un l about 1979, air-condi oning was available only in
these and in AC First Class cars. Around 1979 the rst two- er AC coaches were introduced. The rst 3- er AC
coaches were introduced in 1993 (RCF) and used on the Howrah Rajdhani via Patna. (The rst such coach was ER
2301A, later changed to ER 94101A.) The rst 60 or so of the three- er AC coaches had 67 berths each, while all
later ones have 64 berths.

Electric Mul ple Units (EMU)

The rst 1500V DC EMUs used around Bombay (the rst EMUs in India, 1925) were from Cammell Laird (UK)
(later Metro Cammell) and Uerdingenwagonfabrik (Germany). Later units were supplied by Breda (Italy) as well.
IR has electric mul ple units in opera on in several suburban sec ons (Mumbai, Chennai, Calcu a, BandelKatwa, etc.). The Mumbai region with 1.5kV DC trac on has several models of EMUs, classied from WCU-1
through WCU-15. Most models have DC trac on motors with rheosta c control (resistance banks to vary the input
power supply). DC EMUs are also used on the Lonavala-Pune sec on.
BHEL has recently developed some AC-DC EMUs for use in the Bombay area in both the 25kV AC and 1.5kV
DC trac on regions. The new AC-DC EMUs also have 3-phase induc on motors and thyristor control. Recently WR
has signed a contract with Alstom to convert some of the exis ng (Jessops) 1.5kV DC EMUs to operate with both AC
and DC trac on power. The rst such rakes are already in regular use in the Borivli-Dahanu sec on. All the AC-DC
coaches have regenera ve brakes. The 9xx series rakes fail over to electropneuma c braking directly if regenera ve
braking does not work, while the 3xx series rakes rst fail over to dynamic (rheosta c) brakes rst before failing
over to the electropneuma c brakes. The rakes for these will have 12 cars, and the rated max. speed is 100km/h.
The recent development of the Main-line EMU (MEMU), manufactured by ICF, was intended to address
precisely this, to allow EMU opera ons in more areas. They have a width of 10'8". MEMUs run on 25kV AC power.
MEMU driving motorcoaches seat 76 and the trailer coaches seat 108. They have a rated top speed of about
105km/h and are equipped with electro-pneuma c brakes. The trailer coaches weigh about 33.6 tonnes and the
motor coaches weigh about 60 tonnes. Earlier versions of MEMUs had a top speed of 60km/h. RDSO improved on
these by increasing the horsepower of the trac on motors and providing a weak-eld arrangement in them for
higher speeds.
During the year 2003, RDSO carried out a series of trials with MEMU rakes carrying 'Dense Crush Loads'
('DCL') stopping at all sta ons on the Tundla-Kanpur sec on of NCR. These 4-car MEMUs were provided with a
weak-eld arrangement. It was seen that the use of the weak eld allowed increased accelera on above 40km/h,
saving me at 7% at a max. speed of 90km/h and 105 at 100km/h on the 228km stretch.
*****

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