Electric Loco Shed, Bhusawal is a

motive power depot The motive power depot (MPD) or locomotive depot, or traction maintenance depot (TMD), is the place where locomotives are usually housed, repaired and maintained when not being used. They were originally known as "running sheds", "engine she ...

performing locomotive maintenance and repair facility for

electric locomotive An electric locomotive is a locomotive powered by electricity from overhead lines, a third rail or on-board energy storage such as a battery or a supercapacitor. Locomotives with on-board fuelled prime movers, such as diesel engines or gas ...

s of the

Indian Railways Indian Railways (IR) is a statutory body under the ownership of Ministry of Railways, Government of India that operates India's national railway system. It manages the fourth largest national railway system in the world by size, with a tot ...

, located at

Bhusawal Bhusawal is the largest municipal council (established in 1882) in the Jalgaon district of the Indian state of Maharashtra, situated along the banks of the river Tapi. The city emerged as a major railway junction during the British Raj, and s ...

of the Central Railway in

Maharashtra Maharashtra (; , abbr. MH or Maha) is a states and union territories of India, state in the western India, western peninsular region of India occupying a substantial portion of the Deccan Plateau. Maharashtra is the List of states and union te ...

, India. It is one of the three electric locomotive sheds of the Central Railway, the others being at

Kalyan Kalyan (Pronunciation: əljaːɳ is a city on the banks of Ulhas River in Thane district of Maharashtra state in Konkan division. It is governed by Kalyan-Dombivli Municipal Corporation. Kalyan is a subdivision (Taluka) of Thane district ...

(KYN) and

Ajni Ajni railway station (station code:- AJNI) is a railway station in vicinity of Nagpur in Maharashtra on Delhi–Chennai line. It is situated at a distance of about 2.8 km from Nagpur railway station. There are plans to develop it as a ...

. As of 1 August 2020 there are 203 locomotives in the shed.

History

Steam locomotive sheds used to exist at Bhusawal until the late 1960s. Bhusawal used to be the largest steam shed (after World War II). After Central Railway set a deadline to eliminate all steam locomotive operations by 1990, a push was given towards establishing electric locomotion as the primary motive power, and the Steam locomotive sheds was decommissioned. To meet the needs of exponentially increasing rail traffic on the new continuous broad-gauge lines from Delhi to rest of India with the completion of gauge conversion, the Bhusawal was selected by Indian railways for a new electric locomotive shed. The shed was originally built to handle locos for the freight traffic on the busy New Delhi – Bombay route. It started receiving WAG-2 from

Asansol Asansol is a (Tier-II) metropolitan city in the Indian state of West Bengal. It is the second largest and most populated city of West Bengal and the 33rd largest urban agglomeration in India. Asansol is the district headquarters of Paschim Bar ...

and WAP-1 locos.In Nov 2007 the WAP-1 locos were eventually transferred to Ghaziabad. It later got a large fleet of

WAG-5 The Indian locomotive class WAG-5 is a class of 25 kV AC electric locomotives that was developed in 1978 by Chittaranjan Locomotive Works for Indian Railways. The model name stands for broad gauge (W), alternating current (A), goods traffic ( ...

locos, Jhansi's entire fleet of WAP-4's locos in 2005 and WAG-7 in 2006. The shed also held a few WAM-4 units. All the WAM-4s of this shed have been retired/withdrawn from service. The WAG-7 units were later moved to other shed.

Operations

Being one of the three electric loco sheds in the Central Railway, various major and minor maintenance schedules of electric locomotives are carried out here. It has the sanctioned capacity of 175 engine units. Beyond the operating capacity, this shed houses a total of 203 engine units. It also housed a WAM-4 locomotives temporarily. Electric Loco Shed, Bhusawal is now housing the largest fleet of

WAP-1 The Indian locomotive class WAP-1 is a class of 25 kV AC electric locomotives that was developed in 1980 by Chittaranjan Locomotive Works for Indian Railways. The model name stands for broad gauge (W), AC Current (A), Passenger traffic (P) en ...

in Indian Railways and it caters to many long-distance electric trains. Like all locomotive sheds, BSL does regular maintenance, overhaul and repair including painting and washing of locomotives. It not only attends to locomotives housed at BSL but to ones coming in from other sheds as well. It has four pit lines for loco repair. Locomotives of Bhusawal ELS were the regular links for all trains running through Delhi when widespread electrification of railway lines started in Central Railways. It handled prestigious trains. BSL locomotives used to be predominantly the regular links for trains traveling to east as well.

Livery and markings

WAP-4 and WAG-9 class have a standardized livery all over India.

Locomotives

References

External links

Website

maps of Indian Railway Loco Sheds

showing the Bhusawal Electric Loco Shed
{{Locomotives Sheds of India

Rail transport in Maharashtra Buildings and structures in Maharashtra 1974 establishments in Maharashtra