Electric Loco Shed, Arakkonam is a

motive power depot A motive power depot (MPD) or locomotive depot, or traction maintenance depot (TMD), is where locomotives are usually housed, repaired and maintained. They were originally known as "running sheds", "engine sheds" or just "sheds". Facilit ...

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 (electricity), battery or a supercapacitor. Locomotives with on-board fuelled prime mover (locomotive), ...

s of the

Indian Railways Indian Railways is a state-owned enterprise that is organised as a departmental undertaking of the Ministry of Railways (India), Ministry of Railways of the Government of India and operates India's national railway system. , it manages the fou ...

, located at Arrakkonam on the MGR Chennai Central – KSR Bengaluru section of the

Southern Railway zone Southern Railway (SR) is one of the eighteen zones of Indian Railways. It is headquartered at Chennai and operates across the states of Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and the union territory of Puducherry. The origin of the Southern Rai ...

Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is the southernmost States and union territories of India, state of India. The List of states and union territories of India by area, tenth largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of Indi ...

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

Erode Erode (; īrōṭu), is a city in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is located on the banks of the Kaveri river and is surrounded by the Western Ghats. Erode is the seventh largest urban agglomeration in Tamil Nadu. It is the administrativ ...

(ED) and

Royapuram Royapuram is a locality in the northern part of the city of Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. It is best known for its beach, and for Royapuram Railway Station. The station is the first railway station of South India, opening in 1856, and is today ...

(RPM) and is the oldest in south India. Route_haul_map_of_Arakkonam_Electric_Loco_shed

History

Steam locomotive sheds used to exist at Arrokonam (AJJ) until the late 1970s. After Southern 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 shed was decommissioned. To meet the needs of exponentially increasing rail traffic on the new continuous broad-gauge lines from Chennai to Kanyakumari and Palakkad with the completion of gauge conversion, the steam shed site was selected by Indian railways for a new electric locomotive shed. New Electric locomotive shed was inaugurated in the 1980s with

WAM-4 The Indian locomotive class WAM-4 is a class of 25 kV AC electric locomotives that was developed in 1970 by Chittaranjan Locomotive Works (CLW) for Indian Railways. The model name stands for broad gauge (W), alternating current (A), mixe ...

class. This shed then got 5 WAP-1 from Ghaziabad which stayed until 2002, then they were transferred back to Ghaziabad again. It later got the entire Southern Railway (SR) fleet of

WAP-4 The Indian locomotive class WAP-4 is a class of 25 kV AC electric locomotives that was developed in 1993 by Chittaranjan Locomotive Works for Indian Railways. The model name stands for broad gauge (W), AC Current (A), Passenger traffic (P) l ...

locos. Later these were then moved to

and Lallaguda. New

WAG-7 The Indian locomotive class WAG-7 is a class of 25 kV AC electric locomotives that was developed in 1990 by Chittaranjan Locomotive Works for Indian Railways. The model name stands for broad gauge (W), alternating current (A), goods traffic ( ...

locos were acquired but later transferred to Erode. In 2009, 30 WAP-1 locos transferred back from Ghaziabad out of which all but 5 were sent to Royapuram in 2011. All the WAM-4s of this shed have been retired/withdrawn from service. All WAP-1 units has been moved to Erode(EDDS)

Operations

Being one of the three electric engine sheds in Southern Railway, various major and minor maintenance schedules of electric locomotives are carried out here. It has the sanctioned capacity of 150 engine units. This shed houses a total of 184 engine units, including 90

, 91

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 ...

. and 3 WAG-9 Electric loco Shed, Erode is now housing the 2nd largest fleet of

in Indian Railways and it caters to many long-distance electric trains. Like all locomotive sheds, AJJ does regular maintenance, overhaul and repair including painting and washing of locomotives. It not only attends to locomotives housed at AJJ but to ones coming in from other sheds as well. It has four pit lines for loco repair. Locomotives of Arakkonam ELS along with Erode and Royapuram ELS were the regular links for all trains running through Kerala and Tamil Nadu when widespread electrification of railway lines started in Southern Railways. It handled prestigious trains like the Kerala Express, and the

Tamil Nadu Express The 12621 / 12622 Tamil Nadu Express is a Daily Superfast Express train of the Indian Railways connecting M.G. R Chennai Central - New Delhi . It is the fastest Non - AC train between New Delhi and Chennai covering the distance in 32 hour ...

. AJJ locomotives used to be predominantly the regular links for trains traveling to north as well.

Livery and markings

AJJ based locos can be identified by sticker marks of AJJ ELS. AJJ WAP-4 can also be identified by thunderbolts sign in front and back of the loco. AJJ based WAP-4 has many different types of liveries. Some liveries are given below. AJJ based WAG-9 and WAG-5 have a standard livery all over India

Locomotives

References

External links

Website

location

maps of Indian Railway Loco Sheds

Loco sheds on line atlas

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

Arakkonam Arakkonam () is a railway town in the Ranipet district, state of Tamil Nadu. Included within the Chennai metropolitan area, Chennai Metropolitan Area since 2022, Arakkonam is a major suburb of the state capital city Chennai, with a population ...