Electric Loco Shed, Bhusawal 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

Bhusawal Bhusawal is a city in the Jalgaon district of Maharashtra, India. Situated along the Tapti River, it lies between the Satpura Range and the Ajanta range, Ajanta Hills of the Deccan Plateau, Deccan plateau. The city is a significant hub for the ...

of the Central Railway in

Maharashtra Maharashtra () is a state in the western peninsular region of India occupying a substantial portion of the Deccan Plateau. It is bordered by the Arabian Sea to the west, the Indian states of Karnataka and Goa to the south, Telangana to th ...

, 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. 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 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 ...

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 was 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) ...

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