Southern Railway and Integral Coach Factory (ICF) in India are constructing steam locomotive replicas, which will operate on electricity.
One of the replicas of the locomotive, designed by Southern Railway, is expected to be completed in three to four months, reported The Times of India.
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It already constructed the shell of the locomotive and plans to install other systems. The locomotive is expected to have a pantograph to capture power from the overhead power cable.
Based on Vande Bharat’s design, ICF will soon commence designing a steam engine-themed locomotive.
Avadi EMU car shed is engaged in the manufacturing of a heritage engine, which will be based on the EMU platform.
Southern Railway divisional railway manager Ganesh was quoted by the news publication as saying: “A major problem with steam locomotives is that because of the coal capacity of coal it can run at limited speed and distance.”
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By GlobalDataThe new locomotive, which will be like a steam locomotive, will allow railways to operate heritage specials faster that cover longer distances.
This decision to make new locomotives is based on a better response to a heritage special train being held using a restored steam locomotive EIR 21 from Egmore to Kodambakkam annually.
Southern Railway tested a commercial run of the locomotive a few years back.
Last year in August, ICF announced the manufacturing of metro rail coaches for Maharashtra Metro Rail Corporation (Maha Metro), which is executing metro rail projects at Nagpur and Pune.
