Electric Loco Shed, Asansol
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Electric Loco Shed, Asansol 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
Asansol Asansol is a city in the Indian state of West Bengal. It is the second largest city in West Bengal. It is the 33rd largest urban agglomeration in India by population. Asansol is the district headquarters of Paschim Bardhaman district. Accordi ...
of the
Eastern Railway zone The Eastern Railway (abbreviated ER) is among the 19 Indian Railways Zones and Divisions, zones of the Indian Railways. Its headquarters is at Fairley Place (Kolkata) and comprises four divisions: , , , and . Each division is headed by a Divis ...
in
West Bengal West Bengal (; Bengali language, Bengali: , , abbr. WB) is a States and union territories of India, state in the East India, eastern portion of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal, along with a population of over 91 million inhabi ...
, India. It is one of the two electric locomotive sheds of the Eastern Railway, the others being at
Howrah Howrah (; ; alternatively spelled as Haora) is a city in the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal. Howrah is located on the western bank of the Hooghly River, opposite to its twin city of Kolkata. Administratively ...
(HWH). As of November,2022, there are 142 locomotives in the shed.


History

Steam locomotive sheds used to exist at Asansol (Howrah) until the late 1970s. After Eastern 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 Kolkata to rest of India with the completion of gauge conversion, the Asansol was selected by Indian railways for a new electric locomotive shed. Asansol shed was started in May 1959 by converting a small portion of steam shed with a holding of 45 locos. The imported WAM-1 locomotives were based in this shed after commissioning. With the addition of WAM-2/3 locos. imported from Japan, the need for the expansion of this shed was felt and it was expanded to home 80 locos. In the year 1969 by taking some more portion of the steam shed 12 imported mixed locos. from Japan (10 WAM-2 + 2 WAM-3) and 45 WAG-2 locos. were added. To give marginal relief to the congestion, the 45 WAG-2s were transferred to MGS shed. With the introduction of EMU rakes from BHEL and ICF in Calcutta suburban section, 25 WAM-2 locos, which were working in push-pull operation, were converted to main line operation. The original WAM-1/2 locos, having ignitrons for AC-to-DC conversion, were converted to silicon rectifier system in the years 1968 to 1970. CLW started production and the first batch of 10 WAG-4 locos were commissioned and based at Asansol shed in 1970. In 1971, CLW started manufacturing
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 ...
s which were commissioned at Asansol. Shed was further expanded in 1974 to home 110 locos. which increased to 115 in 1980. With the introduction of air-brake stock, some WAG-4s were converted for dual brake operation. Further facilities were created for maintaining 20 such locos. In the late 1995s WAP-6 were introduced which stayed until late 2005, when they were transferred to Howrah. It later got a large 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 from howrah. All WAP-6 locos from Howrah shed converted to WAP-4 units and transferred here. The shed also have a few WAM-4 units. All the WAM-4s of this shed are being used for shunting service.


Operations

Being one of the three electric engine sheds in Eastern 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 207 engine units, including 90
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 ...
and 19
WAP-7 The Indian locomotive class WAP-7 is a class of 25 kV AC electric locomotives that was developed in 1999 by Chittaranjan Locomotive Works (CLW) for Indian Railways. The model name stands for broad gauge (W), AC Current (A), Passenger traffic ...
. It also housed a few WAM-4 locomotives temporarily. Electric loco Shed, Asansol is now housing a large 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 ...
in Indian Railways and it caters to many long-distance electric trains. Like all locomotive sheds, ASN does regular maintenance, overhaul and repair including painting and washing of locomotives. It not only attends to locomotives housed at ASN but to ones coming in from other sheds as well. It has four pit lines for loco repair. Locomotives of Asansol ELS along with Howrah ELS were the regular links for all trains running through West Bengal when widespread electrification of railway lines started in Eastern Railways. ASN locomotives used to be predominantly the regular links for trains traveling to north as well.


Locomotives


References


External links


Website



maps of Indian Railway Loco Sheds

showing the Erode Electric Loco Shed
{{Locomotives Sheds of India
Asansol Asansol is a city in the Indian state of West Bengal. It is the second largest city in West Bengal. It is the 33rd largest urban agglomeration in India by population. Asansol is the district headquarters of Paschim Bardhaman district. Accordi ...
Asansol railway division Transport in West Bengal 1959 establishments in West Bengal