The Indian locomotive class WDG-6G (GE ES58ACmi) is a class of diesel-electric locomotive used by 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 ...

for freight duty. The locomotive is a higher power variant of the WDG-4G locomotive which was also designed by

General Electric General Electric Company (GE) is an American multinational conglomerate founded in 1892, and incorporated in New York state and headquartered in Boston. The company operated in sectors including healthcare, aviation, power, renewable energ ...

. The design platform is based on the

GE Evolution Series The Evolution Series is a line of diesel locomotives built by GE Transportation Systems (now owned by Wabtec), initially designed to meet the U.S. EPA's Tier 2 locomotive emissions standards that took effect in 2005. The first pre-production ...

and features a

4-stroke A four-stroke (also four-cycle) engine is an internal combustion (IC) engine in which the piston completes four separate strokes while turning the crankshaft. A stroke refers to the full travel of the piston along the cylinder, in either directio ...

16-cylinder fully turbocharged engine which delivers around 6,000

horsepower Horsepower (hp) is a unit of measurement of power, or the rate at which work is done, usually in reference to the output of engines or motors. There are many different standards and types of horsepower. Two common definitions used today are the ...

Import and manufacture

Two units were produced by

Wabtec Wabtec Corporation (derived from Westinghouse Air Brake Technologies Corporation) is an American company formed by the merger of the Westinghouse Air Brake Company (WABCO) and MotivePower Industries Corporation in 1999. It is headquartered ...

's plant in

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

, United States, and delivered to India in 2019. Initially, a few will be made in USA. Under the '

Make in India Make in India is an initiative by the Government of India to create and encourage companies to develop, manufacture and assemble products made in India and incentivize dedicated investments into manufacturing. The policy approach was to creat ...

' initiative of

Indian Government The Government of India (ISO 15919, ISO: ; often abbreviated as GoI), known as the Union Government or Central Government but often simply as the Centre, is the Government, national government of the Republic of India, a federal democracy lo ...

, GE will manufacture all remaining units at its factory in Marhowra,

Bihar Bihar (; ) is a state in eastern India. It is the 2nd largest state by population in 2019, 12th largest by area of , and 14th largest by GDP in 2021. Bihar borders Uttar Pradesh to its west, Nepal to the north, the northern part of West Be ...

. GE has also built maintenance sheds at Roza in UP and

Gandhidham Gandhidham, initially known as Sardarganj, is the largest and most populous city in Kutch District, Gujarat, India. It was created in the early 1950s for the resettlement of Sindhi Hindu refugees from Sindh (now in Pakistan) in the aftermath ...

Gujarat Gujarat (, ) is a state along the western coast of India. Its coastline of about is the longest in the country, most of which lies on the Kathiawar peninsula. Gujarat is the fifth-largest Indian state by area, covering some ; and the ninth ...

Field trials

The first two locomotives in the series, 69001 and 69002, were recently sent to

South Central Railways The South Central Railway (abbreviated SCR) is one of the 19 zones of Indian Railways. The jurisdiction of the zone is spread over the states of Telangana, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh. It has three divisions under its administrati ...

' Maula Ali (MLY) Diesel Locomotive Shed. The locos underwent Confirmatory Oscillograph Car Run (COCR) trials on the

Vikarabad Vikarabad is also Known as Gangawaram(Ancient name) a town and mandal in Vikarabad district of the Indian state of Telangana. It is located in Vikarabad mandal of Vikarabad revenue division. History Vikarabad was known as Gangawaram ancient ...

– Parli section of South Central Railway and were approved by

Research Design and Standards Organisation The Research Designs & Standards Organisation (RDSO) is an ISO 9001 R&D, research and development organisation under the Ministry of Railways (India), Ministry of Railways of government of India, which functions as a technical adviser and consulta ...

for further field trials on the Dedicated Freight Corridor by Roza Locomotive Shed.

Improvements

* Currently approved for test trials by RDSO at a maximum permissible speed of 65kmph. Trials are underway to increase the same. * Current length of the loco is greater than any loco currently and hence facility of dual cab might be introducedhttp://www.indianrailways.gov.in/railwayboard/uploads/directorate/civil_engg/Sanction_Letters/2020_02_11%20Improvement%20of%20BG%20WDG6G%20class%20Diesel%20Electric%20Loco%20axle%20load%2023ton_2019-CEDO-SR-30(2)_RDSO.pdf Improvements of the WDG-6G class of Locomotive suggested by RDSO

Locomotive sheds

References

{{Broad gauge locomotives of India , state=open G-6G Co-Co locomotives Evolution Series WDG-6G 5 ft 6 in gauge locomotives Railway locomotives introduced in 2019

Import and manufacture

Field trials

Improvements

Locomotive sheds

See also

References